WereDragon
by TheFuriousNightFury
Summary: The Edge gets a new visitor. And he's not what he seems. Hiccup's fate is in the balance.
1. Chapter 1

**This was just something that popped into my head at the last second after a normal day of school and some YouTube watching. It's brilliantly stupid.**

* * *

Just another evening on the edge. Hiccup sat outside his hut with Toothless, another day had come and gone. The sun was setting now, casting orange on the sea, the sky was a brilliant explosion of reds, oranges, yellows, and blues. A gentle breeze blew past them, bringing with it the smell of the ocean. The trees behind them rustled. Hiccup let out a contented sigh. Nothing could ruin this perfect day. He heard some heavy footsteps and turned to look. Astrid and Stormfly approached. Toothless immediately invited Stormfly to play with an excited burble. Stormfly responded with a happy squawk. The two dragons ran off to play destructively in the woods. Astrid sat down next to Hiccup.

"Evening, Astrid."

She smiled. "Beautiful sunset."

Hiccup nodded. "Just like the one..."

He stopped.

"What one?" Astrid met his eyes.

"That one after the big storm."

Astrid's eyes widened in understanding. "That one where we..."

"Yeah." Hiccup nodded. "That one."

Astrid snorted. "Well, stop tiptoeing around it, I get what you're implying."

Hiccup smiled. "You do know me."

Astrid grabbed Hiccup and pulled him in. Their lips touched. After a long moment, they pulled apart.

"I'm getting used to that." Hiccup joked.

"You did say you could." Astrid gave him a knowing look.

Hiccup sighed. "It definitely isn't getting boring."

Astrid rolled her eyes and turned back to the sunset.

"Hiccup, now that everyone knows..." Astrid began.

"It doesn't make a difference, does it." Hiccup said. "They certainly like seeing us together. Even Snotlout."

Astrid made a contented noise.

Hiccup moved closer and curled his hand around Astrid's shoulders.

Nothing could ruin this perfect day.

* * *

Hiccup woke to strange feelings throughout his body. His skin was tingling as if he was being watched. He groaned and sat up. It was the middle of the night. He opened his eyes and heard a strange creaking.

"Hello? Toothless?"

He heard a noise similar to a dragon's growl, but there was something off about it.

"Toothless? Wake up, bud."

Toothless' familiar growl answered, and the Night Fury made his way over to Hiccup. Hiccup held up a lantern.

"Toothless, some light please."

A purple blast fired into the lantern, and the small upstairs room was illuminated. Hiccup looked around for anything unusual. There was nothing. Just him, Toothless, and Hiccup's belongings, furniture... the usual. Hiccup relaxed.

"Nothing. It must have been a dream."

He blew out the lantern and lay back down. Toothless moved to his bed and lay down.

Just a dream. Nothing more.

A pair of sliver-thin green eyes watched Hiccup from the darkness of the rafters in the top of his hut. A low, weird growl emitted from his spectator's throat. It jumped silently down onto the floor, not making a noise as it closed in on Hiccup. It moved a limb forward and touched him on the neck. Claws extended from the tips and punctured the skin. After a moment, Toothless noticed the creature and snarled loudly. The strange creature turned, and Toothless moved forward, beginning to chase the creature. It leaped up onto the rafters, easily making the very tall jump. Toothless let out a plasma blast which grazed the creature's head. It howled in pain and jumped gracefully out the window.

Toothless watched it go. He then dashed back to Hiccup to see that he was seemingly fine, asleep. The noise hadn't woke him.

Toothless was worried.

What was that thing?

* * *

Hiccup threw open the door of his hut. He stumbled forward, yawning. Toothless followed, being a little clingier than usual. Hiccup sighed. "What's wrong, bud?"Toothless looked up at Hiccup with wide green eyes, letting out a soft moan and rubbing himself against Hiccup. The Haddock let out an exasperated sigh. The Night Fury was being oddly overprotective, even more than usual.

"Toothless, I'm fine, okay? What;s with you?"

The dragon's only reply was a snort. Hiccup rolled his eyes. Snotlout came around the corner a moment later, with the twins behind him, equal expressions of satisfaction and mischief on their faces. Snotlout looked irritated.

"Look who decided to wake up." The Jorgenson's remark made Hiccup a little defensive.

"What's that remark supposed to mean?" Snotlout pointed up. Hiccup glanced in the same direction, to see the sun above their heads.

"Princess outpost slept in." Snotlout said, not to Hiccup, but to whoever was in earshot. Tuffnut waltzed up to Hiccup and looked him over, causing an irritated grunt from Toothless. Ruff looked thoughtful, staring at Hiccup with her mischevious smile.

"While you were dozing the hours away, these to muttonheads filled my hut with Night Terrors and boars."

Hiccup looked closer at Snotlout and noticed a few scratches on his face. Whatever the Haddock was about to say next was interrupted by Tuffnut.

"Aha! I knew it! You, sir, have been bitten by a Werevampiredragon!" Hiccup turned to stare at him.

"Tuff, what on earth-" The male twin pointed to his neck, where there was a neat line of four claw marks. Hiccup couldn't see it, so he was confused.

"Wha- what is a vampire dragon? Tuff, what are you talking about?" Ruff came up as well, staring at the marks. Snotlout just rolled his eyes.

"Well, what are you going to do about my house? Shouldn't these two get extra patrols or something?" Hiccup was interrupted yet again.

"Tuff, these aren't WereVampiredragon marks, they only have three fangs!" It was Ruffnut, correcting her brother. "This is clearly the work of a giant eel spider." Hiccup backed away from the twins that were too close for comfort. "

"Guys, I want you to go clean up any mess in Snotlout's hut caused by your prank. Snotlout, you know we shouldn't put the twins on watch duty."

The twins moved off together, heading for Snotlout's hut. They were bickering over what bit Hiccup.

"Werevampiredragon!"

"Gian eel spider!" Hiccup sighed and rubbed his temples. He realized just how much his neck was stinging and rubbed it. Snotlout continued standing there.

"What?" Hiccup sighed.

"So why did you sleep in? Astrid was asking about you." Snotlout looked confused.

Hiccup shrugged. "I don't know."

Snotlout snorted and wandered back to Hookfang. "Well, I'm going to make sure those two don't mess up my hut more than it is."

Hiccup watched him go, relieved. He had no idea why he had slept in, or why the twins were claiming- Wait, had he really been bitten by something? He rubbed his neck and felt the four puncture marks."That's odd..."

"Hiccup?"

He had been so preoccupied with his neck that he hadn't heard Astrid approach. He jumped a good foot in the air when Astrid said his name.

"Where have you been? And what in Odin's name happened to your neck?" Hiccup turned to her.

"Oh... uh, well... I was sleeping in, apparently. Sorry about that. Seems like I didn't miss much. I have no idea about my neck."

Astrid moved in close and stared at the marks. "Hmm. Doesn't look like anything I know. Anyway, I've been waiting for you to get up. There's something on the island, a dragon of some sort. I've been trying to track it down. I need help, whatever it is, It's fast."

Hiccup nodded. "Sure, we can do that. Where is it?"

"Last I saw, in the north-eastern part of the island."

"Right." Hiccup moved to get on Toothless, but the dragon moved back abruptly, denying him access to the saddle. "Wha- hey, Toothless, hold still! Let me on!" The Haddock continued his attempts, with little success. He finally managed to get on the dragon, but it was still another thing to coax Toothless into the air. It took half an hour to get into the air, but once they did, they began to patrol. As they were flying, Hiccup noticed a shape on the beach. Everything else fell away momentarily. He stared down at the small shape. Then, abruptly, he angled Toothless toward it. Astrid watched him in surprise.

"Hiccup?"

Toothless landed and immediately began to growl at the thing on the beach. Hiccup approached it slowly. Astrid landed Stormfly nearby and watched as her boyfriend moved toward the crumpled figure. Hiccup looked at it.

Wrapped in tattered clothing, a pale, unmoving boy, probably only twelve at most, and with a bad burn on his head lay on the beach.

"Looks like our new dragon will have to wait."

* * *

Hiccup stared down at the boy, now lying inside his hut on the bed. Astrid and Fishlegs looked at him from nearby. Toothless sat on his rock slab, staring at the boy with disapproval and restless irritation. Something was bothering the dragon. Hiccup, meanwhile, felt a strange sort of... connection to this small boy. He sat very close, staring at the boy with a strange look in his eyes, refusing to leave him since he found him on the beach. Astrid was somewhat worried, Hiccup was acting strangely.

The boy, meanwhile, was definitely alive, although weak. It looked as though he had been shot by a dragon, had dragged himself around the island, and collapsed on the beach. Fishlegs had bandaged the boy's head, and other wounds, the small boy was pretty scratched up.

The others left after a while, leaving Hiccup and Toothless alone with the boy. Hiccup left only for a moment to get something to eat, but as he came back, munching on some bread, he heard the boy let out a small moan. He ran forward, nearly tripping over himself to get to the boy. He lowered himself next to the bed and watched as the boy slowly gained consciousness. Toothless let out a dissatisfied growl and glared at the boy through narrowed eyes. Hiccup ignored him. He put a hand on the boy's arm.

"Cmon, you can do it." He encouraged.

The boy opened his eyes and tried to sit up, but Hiccup stopped him. The boy's face turned to confusion, and he pawed at his head where the bandages were. He locked gaze with Hiccup and froze.

"Hey. I know you're scared right now, and probably in pain, but it's okay. I promise it's fine. Just relax." Hiccup stared into the boy's strange green eyes. There was something odd-

They looked like Toothless's eyes, only a more faded green. The pupils were thin from fear. Hiccup gasped and moved back a little. The boy hissed at Hiccup, sat up, and began to try again with getting the bandages off.

"Hey, don't do that. Those are helping your burn-"

The boy hissed again, this time at Toothless. The dragon hissed back, sounding threatening. The boy immediately shrank back with a whimper. Hiccup moved in between them, locking gazes with the boy.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not here to hurt you. You're going to be fine."

The boy seemed to understand this and relaxed visibly. He still watched Hiccup's every move, never saying a word as Hiccup rewrapped most of the bandages.

"There. Not so bad, right? Trust me, you could have worse."

The boy sat down with his knees up and his arms between his legs like a dragon would, and watched Hiccup.

"Oh, you're probably hungry... well, how about this?" Hiccup held up the bread. The boy sniffed at it and grabbed it with one hand. He began to eat it hungrily, taking huge bites.

"Woah, slow down!" Hiccup laughed a little. "Someone was hungry."

Within seconds the bread was gone, and the boy burped a little. He turned to look at Hiccup, pupils wide and friendly.

Hiccup reached out a hand. "So, fella, can you talk?"

The boy grabbed Hiccup's hand in his own and looked at it as if it was something new. He glanced at Hiccup and snorted softly.

"Can you?" Hiccup was hopeful the boy could talk. He could learn about him much easier that way.

The boy let out a strange warble, almost like Toothless.

"You sound and act kind of like a dragon... but you look human. Well... mostly. Huh." Hiccup noted to himself.

The boy stared at Hiccup, and something sparked in his eyes. Then, for the first time, the boy spoke.

"I- under- stand- your- talk."

Hiccup's eyes widened and he smiled. Once he remembered how to talk again, he stuttered out a question. "Y- you can? That's great! Uh.. what's your name?"

The boy processed this.

"...Name? What- is- name?"

"What people call you. Uh... mine is Hiccup. And back there is Toothless." He motioned to himself, then the dragon.

"Have- no- name." The boy mumbled. "Hi- cup. Too- this." He continued to himself.

Hiccup nodded. "Okay, well, I can give you one if you want. I'm not great at naming things-" Toothless rolled his eyes at that. "-But I can sure give it a try."

The boy nodded. "A- kay."

Hiccup thought for a moment. "Hmm. Well... maybe something..." He looked at the boy. "Something that starts with an A, maybe?"

"A- kay." The boy repeated.

"Don't you mean okay?" Hiccup corrected. "-Wait... Akey! How about that?" Toothless snorted with distaste. The boy, however, made a happy noise.

"Akey it is." Hiccup said in an official tone. "Now, Akey, where do you come from?"

The boy tilted his head. "I can- t- show- you. Far- away."

"Wait, here." Hiccup moved away, grabbed his map and spread it out on the floor. "Anywhere on here look familiar?"

Akey crawled to the end of the bed and looked down at it. He studied it for a long time but finally shook his head no. "No- here."

Hiccup huffed in irritation. "Well, sorry about that, Akey."

Akey looked at Hiccup. "Why- you- called- Hi- cup?"

Hiccup shrugged noncommittally. "Well... it's just a Viking tradition to call runts Hiccup." Deep down, it had always bothered him, at least until that one day where his father told him he loved him the way he was. He still found it irritating to be called Hiccup, however.

Akey gave him a sympathetic but confused look. "You- don't- look like- small to me."

Hiccup closed his eyes for a moment. This was bringing up painful memories. "I used to be smaller."

"Oh. A- kay. Why- he- called Too- this?" Akey pointed to Toothless.

"That's easy. His teeth are retractable, and he surprised me with them when we first met." Toothless snickered draconicly at this.

Akey snickered as well. "Good- one- Too- this."

Hiccup was immediately confused. "Wha- good what?"

Akey smiled. "Too- this made- joke."

"He... did?"Hiccup asked. "Can you understand him?"

Akey rolled his eyes as if it was obvious. "Uh- yeah- Hi- cup."

Hiccup gasped. "You understand dragons?"

Akey nodded. "Yeah-"

Hiccup stood up so fast he got dizzy. "Oh, my-" So many ideas began to rush through his head. "Oh, my Thor. Oh, my. This... this is amazing! all the things we could learn! I- I have to tell Fishlegs about this first thing in the morning... oh, maybe it's possible for me to learn how to understand Toothless... and all dragons! Maybe we could learn to train Speedstingers and Changewings! And..."

Akey got bored of listening to Hiccup's chatter and looked at Toothless. He let off some grunts.

 _'Is he always like this? You have a weird human.'_

Toothless snorted. _'You have no idea.'_

* * *

Hiccup and Fishlegs began to talk about the possibilities of learning to speak with dragons as soon as Hiccup told everyone about Akey and what he could do. Snotlout loudly exclaimed "NERDS" and walked out. Astrid said she'd take the next patrol and left. Heather was dubious.

"Can we trust this little guy?"

Hiccup nodded. "I'm sure of it. He's just a kid, he's harmless enough."

Heather shook her head. "He's not just a kid. You said yourself that there's something odd about him. His strange behavior, his eyes, and he can just speak to dragons? Does no one else find this odd? Not to mention he didn't even have a name."

Hiccup nodded. "All excellent points which I will keep in mind. But-"

Heather sighed. "All I'm saying is be careful." She hopped on Windshear and left.

Hiccup turned to the twins. "Anything you guys want to get done?"

They exchanged a look and left silently. Odd-

"So, when can we take a look at this little guy?" Fishlegs asked excitedly, bouncing on the spot.

"Right now."

* * *

Akey didn't take kindly to Fishlegs at first. But he warmed up to him quickly. The boy still clung to Hiccup closely, however.

Fishlegs started asking the boy with questions.

"Okay, are you part dragon or something?"

Akey shrugged. "I- don't... I-" As if he wanted to avoid the subject.

"How well can you see in the dark with those eyes?"

Akey nodded. "Very- good. Saw Hi- cup. Saw Too- this. Too- this no- like me- in- Hi- cup's cave."

Toothless snorted at this. Akey winced softly and reached up a hand to his burn. "Def- nat- ly no- like- me in- Hi- cup cave."

Hiccup was confused. "Did Toothless shoot you?"

Akey froze. "When- I got- here, found Hi- cup cave. Saw Hi- cup, was cu- curious. Too- this scare- me- away and- fire me. I run."

Hiccup reached a hand onto his neck. "You're the one who... was in my hut two nights ago."

Akey winced. "So- re- hurt- your neck."

Hiccup stiffened. "How- how did you do this?"

Akey held up a hand and flexed his fingers. Black claws extended from the tips, glinting in the dim light. Fishlegs's and Hiccup's eyes widened and jaws dropped in unison. "Whoa."

Akey smiled. "Not- only thing- I have."

He pulled down part of his tattered shirt and turned around so they could see his back. Running from the base of his neck to his hips was a neat line of black spines. Here and there around them were black scales. It was amazing he didn't also have a tail and wings.

Hiccup was flabbergasted. "Are you some sort of hybrid... dragon human thing?"

Akey nodded. "I- guess- so... I really- don't- know- what- I am." He sighed softly. "Al- ways been- this way..."

Hiccup found this incredible. Fishlegs was scribbling notes down so fast, his hand was a blur.

"What about dragons? You said you could understand them." Hiccup said. "Oh Thor, I have so many questions!"

Toothless rolled his eyes, staring at the three people. They talked long into the evening, until Akey got tired and said he wanted sleep. Fishlegs left, muttering excitedly, leaving Hiccup to get some sleep. Akey curled up on the floor.

 _'Akey. Akey.'_ Toothless snorted, trying to get the boy's attention.

Akey responded. _'What?'_

 _'I'm not going to forget that you hurt Hiccup.'_ The dragon growled dangerously.

 _'I said sorry. I was just curious anyway.'_

 _'Odd way to be curious, sticking your claws in his neck. You could have hurt him seriously.'_

 _'Toothless, I sorry, okay? Please stop being mad at me!'_ Akey was getting upset.

He felt a tingle rush through his body.

Toothless snorted and rolled over. _'Whatever. But you hurt him again and I will show you how us Night Furies got the title Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death.'_

 _'Toothless, what moon is it tonight?'_ Akey asked, nervous.

 _'Full, I think, why?'_

Akey responded with a groan. _'Not good.'_

Toothless looked at him sideways. _'Why?'_

Akey let out a cry of pain.

Toothless watched him, wide eyed. _'Akey?'_

* * *

Hiccup woke the next morning, feeling refreshed and ready to learn about Akey. He threw the covers off and stood up, getting his armor on faster than usual.

"Alright, Akey, how about we-"

He froze, stunned.

The walls of his hut were covered in claw marks, ranging in size from small to almost Toothless's size, probably were Toothless's. Everything was a mess, the tailfins he kept on the wall were scattered hither and yon, some ripped. One of the beams that held up the ceiling was cracked in half down the middle, each half bending sadly to the side. Toothless was absent, and there was _blood_ on the floor.

Hiccup was speechless.

He ran outside, and looked around. Everything was a mess. There were fires, huts looked on the verge of collapsing, and everything outside echoed the mess inside his hut, but worse. The Night Terrors were everywhere, and everyone was trying to either clean up a mess, put out a fire, or calm their dragons down.

Still no Toothless.

"What in the name of Odin-" Hiccup began. He saw Astrid come up to him. She had a claw mark across her arm, and her leg was bandaged.

"Hiccup. Remember that dragon we were talking about? I think it was here." She tottered, and Hiccup caught her.

"Astrid, is everyone okay?"

"The dragons are spooked, half the Edge is destroyed, and everyone is injured somehow."

Hiccup winced. What could have been this destructive?

* * *

The cleanup was rough. But after nearly a day of working, the Edge was manageable. There was still no sign of Toothless or Akey. Which was worrying.

Hiccup got Heather and Astrid to run everything while he went out into the forest to look for Toothless and Akey. He looked for a while, having the Night Terrors help him search. After a while, he finally found a clue. A bunch of black scales, leading in a trail through the woods, claw marks in trees heading in the same direction.

It was _scary._

He followed it until he saw a large black shape lying on the ground. "Toothless!" He ran forward, relieved.

The shape immediately reacted to him, rearing to it's full height. It at first appeared to be Toothless, having nearly all the features of a Night Fury, but it was only Hiccup's height, stood on two legs, had a mess of hair, a human face, and looked lanky.

Hiccup stopped, shocked. There were bandages on it's head, displaced slightly by large black ears.

Akey.

There was no one else it could be.

Hiccup moved closer, slowly.

"Hey. It's okay. It's me."

Akey hissed loudly, crouching a little. His tattered clothes were stretched over his larger frame. He no longer looked like a twelve year old, more like an eighteen year old.

An eighteen year old nightmare inducing dragon creature.

That didn't seem to know what was happening, just a blur of instincts. What had happened to the Edge seemed to make more sense now.

"Akey, it's me. Hiccup. Just calm down. Come on." Hiccup continued moving forward.

Click. Thump.

Akey hissed some more.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." He reached for his dagger, getting a growl from the creature in front of him. He pulled it out, intending to drop it on the ground.

But Akey took it as a hostile act.

And leaped.

* * *

A/N: Aaaand I'm going to end it there for now. I have HTMAF to work on.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Seriously? NO ONE READ THIS?

It's not THAT bad, is it?

* * *

Time slowed down for Hiccup. Akey's claws were moving closer, followed by powerful arms and sharp teeth bared with fury. Hiccup couldn't move out of the way in time, and his knife had already dropped from his hand in shock. Time sped up again, and Akey hit him against the ground so hard, he blacked out for a moment. His heart thumped in his ribcage. He stared into the green eyes of the monster above him, terrified. Akey just stared back, snarling. The large wings on his back twitched, and his tail swished across the dirt, back and forth. The monster seemed to be deciding how to kill Hiccup. His claws began to tighten around Hiccup's neck. Said teen had an idea at this moment, slowly moving his hand up to Akey's neck. Akey remained focused on Hiccup, not noticing the Haddock's movement. Hiccup exhaled and suddenly closed the gap between his hand and Akey's neck, scratching until he met the chin, a dragon's soft spot, when he pressed up a little. It worked. Akey fell to the ground, in a state of bliss much like Toothless would have been.

Hiccup struggled to his feet, letting his lungs take in a breath again as he sighed with relief. He stared in disbelief at Akey, who was purring and looking much more relaxed.

"Okay, boy, easy. It's okay." Hiccup murmured, moving slowly down to Akey. "I promise I'm here to help."

Akey's eyes opened, and it was then clear that the dragon was watching Hiccup's every move. Akey opened his mouth and began to make soft growls. They didn't sound threatening, which made Hiccup relax more.

"Alright now bud, if you can let me close, that would help." Hiccup kneeled close and moved a hand close to Akey, who made no move to stop him. If anything, recollection more than anger was in his eyes and he began to whine, though it was unclear why. Until he spoke.

"So- rey Ic-cup." He growled, his voice was much deeper and distorted than it had been before. "So- reeeey." Akey began to cry, keeping his gaze locked with Hiccup.

Hiccup placed a hand on Akey and nodded. "I'm alright. Just a little scared. Don't cry, kay? We'll figure this out."

"I- not bad- just- please- p-p-" Akey continued. "I am- moo- oon- changed-" His breathing was skipping. "It-s over- now- just for- give me- Hi- cup-" He stopped moving, going limp.

Hiccup began to panic. "Akey? Akey! Hey! Don't die! I forgive you!"

Akey began to shrink back to his less terrifying form, getting smaller by the second. His wings and tail disappeared, and he lost the ears as well. As soon as it seemed to be over, Hiccup gently scooped him up, holding the weakened boy in his arms. Akey was still breathing.

Hiccup began to walk back to camp, hoping Toothless was okay.

* * *

And sure enough, after a long walk back, Toothless nearly tackled Hiccup in a shower of dragon slobber before realizing Hiccup was carrying Akey.

After a long explanation of what had happened, everyone was now keeping their distance from Akey, especially Heather.

"I knew he'd be trouble." She said, rubbing a finger over her ax handle. "We have to get rid of him. Now."

"No!" Hiccup said loudly, startling everyone. After an awkward moment of everyone staring at him, he took a deep breath and began again. "No. We will not get rid of him. This wasn't his fault, something happened to him. He wouldn't have hurt me, or tried to hurt any of you, something was off."

"Whether it was him or not, he's still a threat." Astrid said, looking at Hiccup with her arms crossed. "How do we know he won't transform again and this time, kill someone?"

All eyes turned to Hiccup. He felt uncomfortable. "I- just... let me talk to him, okay? We'll figure this out. There's no reason to get rid of him." Before anyone could argue, Hiccup turned to walk out, raising one hand. "Dismissed!"

Ruff exchanged a look with Tuff. "He really has become a tyrant." Tuff nodded. "Power will do that to you."

Astrid shot them a look. "Not helping. Why don't you guys find something constructive to do?"

They shrugged and left. Snotlout was moving to Hookfang.

"I'm going to fortify my hut so that little monster can't destroy what's left of it!"

Heather shook her head and walked out. Fishlegs stood there, fingers laced and looking awkward.

"I'm going to review my notes on Akey and see if there's anything about him in any books or research we have. Maybe we can help him." Fishlegs announced.

Astrid nodded. "Good idea."

* * *

A/N: Things aren't looking very good for Akey...


	3. Chapter 3

A few days passed with no real productivity. Hiccup stayed in his hut for the most part, with the others not seeing much of him. The edge was being rebuilt, with most of the effort coming from Heather, Astrid, and Fishlegs, with them pushing the twins to help. They took any chance to duck out of the work to try seeing what Hiccup was up to. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were sneaking up to the Haddock's hut, ready to peek inside.

Meanwhile, Hiccup was sitting on his bed, feeling a little woozy. Akey was watching him, sitting on the floor with a curious and concerned expression on his face. His bright green dragon eyes watched Hiccup's every move. Toothless was nearby, watching Hiccup and looking very concerned as well.

"Do- you fe-el a- kay, Hic-cup?" Akey asked, taking a couple of steps forward.

Toothless immediately turned on him, growling wordlessly.

 _"Toothless, I'm not going to hurt him again, I promise-"_

 _"Oh really? What happens next full moon?"_

Akey shrugged. _"I don't know. I try to stop it, but every full moon, I turn into a... a monster. I can't control what I do. It's why I was..._ " He winced and shrunk a little against the floor.

Toothless snorted. _"Why you were what?"_

 _"Why I was banished from my home. I was born like this, and they only put up with me for so long, but I was getting stronger..."_ Akey whimpered.

Toothless' expression softened slightly. _"I'm sorry, I just don't want Hiccup hurt."_

 _"No, I understand..."_ Akey sighed, lying down in a sad puppy sort of position on the floor. _"I don't want to hurt him either. He's the first friend I've truly had..."_

Hiccup groaned softly, and both dragons looked turned to him.

"I feel- I feel weird, bud..." Hiccup said softly. He hadn't left his hut in a while, and hadn't even eaten. Toothless would have gotten him something to eat, but hadn't wanted to leave his friend. "I think I need a- need a walk or something..." He stood and immediately collapsed partly. Toothless ran to him and braced the Haddock before he fell all the way over.

Hiccup instinctively winced away. Toothless was surprised. Hiccup groaned and clutched his head. "Oh Thor, why does my head hurt so much..."

Toothless whined and tried to comfort him. Hiccup again winced away, hissing for a moment.

"B-bud..." Hiccup whimpered. "H-h-help me..."

He groaned again and doubled over, with Toothless very unsure what to do. Hiccup suddenly reared up, yelling loudly and clutching his head as if he was in a monstrous amount of pain. His eyes were stretched wide.

He blinked, and in a terrifying instant, his eyes went from human to dragon. Toothless drew back, shocked. Hiccup was wheezing, and then he doubled over again. He was letting out muffled screams. Two jet black ears sprouted from the top of his head, and immediately, Toothless knew what was happening. He remained frozen, split between wanting to help Hiccup and wanting to run for his life.

Two huge black wings sprouted from Hiccup's shoulders so fast the young man screamed in sudden agony. A tail sprouted from inbetween his hips and shot out, ripping his pants. Hiccup's forearms and lower legs bulged, causing his shirt sleeves to rip, and his fingers changed into claws. All the while, he let out loud yells, which ominously were changing in pitch until he sounded just like a Night Fury.

Hiccup was crouched on the floor, gasping in pain, and Toothless wasn't sure what was next, standing there, shocked, terrified, having no clue how to help his friend. Hiccup looked up slowly, and held up a large paw close to his face. He yelped and backed away from it so fast he ran into the wall. This hurt his already suffering shoulders, causing him more pain.

"Wha-what's ha-happening t-t-to m-ee?" He growled, his voice sounding distorted and deep and _wrong._

Toothless still didn't move. _"Hiccup?"_

Hiccup was shaking, his pupils thin with terror. He let out a high pitched terrified whine which quickly faded and he was just sitting there with his mouth open, tears starting to flow from his eyes.

Akey had watched the whole thing, going from shocked to scared to guiltily upset. _"I'm so sorry, Hiccup, my friendship with you has come with a price I didn't think you'd have to pay."_

Toothless whipped around and glared at Akey. _"What does that mean?"_

Akey's mouth must have gone dry and he shrunk to half his size. _"I'm so, so sorry."_ He whispered. _"I-I'm sorry..."_

 _"Change him back!"_ Toothless yelled.

 _"It's too late..."_ Akey whimpered. _"He's doomed just like all the others..."_

 _"D-doomed?! No! Help him! There has to be a way!"_ Toothless snarled, beginning to pace. Hiccup remained where he was, frozen and shaking with terror and hyperventilating more than he needed to. _"Calm down Hiccup, we'll get you back to normal."_ Toothless knew Hiccup couldn't understand him, but that didn't stop him from trying to comfort his friend. A thought occurred to him, and he faced Akey again. _"How did this happen?"_

 _"My blood must have gotten in him somehow, that's the only way it could have happened._ " Akey responded. _"That's how it always happens."_ He moaned. _"Always- first attachment, then transformation, then madness, then-"_

Toothless froze. _"Then... then what?"_

Akey met his gaze sadly.

 _"Death."_

* * *

When the twins had heard screaming from Hiccup's hut, they had run for it. The entire edge could have heard the agonized screams, and Astrid ran up to the hut, practically destroying Hiccup's door on the way in, her axe in hands, ready to dispatch whatever was threatening her boyfriend. At first, there was no threat in sight, but then a pair of green eyes peered down from the upper level Hiccup slept on.

"Toothless?" Astrid asked.

The Night Fury jumped down and stared at Astrid, looking torn and upset. He let out a moan and began to pace.

You okay?" Astrid asked. "What's wrong? What happened to Hiccup?"

Toothless let out a short bark and hissed through his teeth, throwing his big black head in the direction of the stairs. He growled and shook his head. Astrid gathered that something was wrong. Keeping her axe in hand, she began walking towards the stairs. Toothless immediately ran forward and blocked her path, growling softly. He was staring at her axe.

"You know I always keep my axe with me." Astrid complained, confused. But she put it down anyway. She walked up the stairs, Toothless directly behind her. She saw Akey staring at a big black creature in the corner and was immediately confused. Akey turned to her and started.

"As- rid?" He asked.

"What happened? Where's hiccup?"

"Here." Akey said, pointing to whatever was beside him. The creature looked up at Astrid, and what she saw looked nothing like Hiccup at first glance, and more like Toothless. But there was no mistaking the tattered armor he was wearing, or the auburn hair, or those cute freckles. His prosthetic was sitting on the floor, as both his legs were transformed along with the rest of him, and for the first time since the Red death, he had both legs, such as they were.

What scared Astrid the most was Hiccup's expression. It was twisted in a mix between anger and terror, and his dragon pupils were thin as paper.

"Assstrid..." Hiccup hissed, his voice distorted.

Astrid gasped and ran to him, kneeling and reaching out, yet unsure what to do.

"Hiccup, what- what happened? What in Odin's name happened to you?" Astrid asked.

It was Akey who answered. "He is- changed- because- of- me. It can't- be- undone." He lowered his head apologetically. "I am- so-sorry." _"Very sorry."_

Astrid continued to stare at Hiccup. "Don't worry, Hiccup, we'll figure this out. It'll be okay. Fishlegs is bound to find something, I'll tell the others..."

Hiccup's expression had changed. "Astrid..." He wheezed.

"What?" She asked. "Anything."

He grabbed her hand in his oversized paw, claws flexed to interlock with her fingers. The intensity of his gaze almost made her flinch away.

"Don't let them see me."

* * *

Astrid walked into the clubhouse, where the others were already gathered. Akey was with her. Heather stared at the boy, a cold glint in her eyes. No one spoke. Astrid walked up to the center table and put her hands down on it.

"Something's happened to Hiccup." She announced, her words dropping like stones.

The silence dragged on. Everyone turned to Akey as if they expected him to explain, then back to Astrid.

"Did _he_ have something to do with it?" Heather asked coldly, staring at Akey. Akey shrunk, whimpering.

"I think so." Astrid replied.

"I knew it." Heather growled, drawing her axe. "I knew he was trouble." Akey backed up, looking alarmed. He pressed against Astrid as if she would protect him.

"I-I sorry." He whimpered. "I no-ot mean to h-hurt him... it just hap-pened..."

Astrid shook her head. "I don't think he did it on purpose."

"That doesn't change-" Heather began.

"So exactly what happened to Hiccup?" Snotlout interrupted.

"He's-" Astrid paused. "He's turned partially into a Night Fury." Astrid expected gasps of terror or laughter, but there was only a heavy silence.

"Astrid, you're kidding, right?" Snotlout asked nervously. "You're joking?"

Astrid shook her head slowly. Fishlegs paled. The twins's jaws dropped slightly. Snotlout whimpered. Heather bristled like an angry Nadder. Meatlug whimpered softly. Hookfang growled uneasily. Barf and Belch exchanged a look. Windshear shook her metal head with a snort.

"This can't be happening." Fishlegs whispered.

"How do we help him?" Heather asked. They all turned to Akey, who had come forward again at this question.

"You- you can't. He won't turn b-back. First- atta-chment, the-en trans-forma-tion, then madness, then- then-" He shook a little and whimpered. "D-death."

You could have heard a blade of grass hit the floor. Everyone stared at Akey, shocked and wide-eyed. Astrid felt as though a blade had been driven through her heart.

Everyone had some idea what this meant.

Hiccup was going to go mad.

Then he was going to die.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

* * *

But of course, as they were stubborn Viking types, they decided to give it a valient try. Fishlegs went through as many books as he could find, trying to find anything. He spoke with Akey until the boy was ready to fall asleep on his feet. Accoring to Akey, they had two moons. Hiccup would be mad by the first moon, and would get steadily weaker.

After that, he'd die. Akey wasn't telling them the specifics, but they knew he wasn't lying. The desperation was in everyone on the edge. Even the twins knew the direness of the situation and were following orders without question. Snotlout was behaving himself and hadn't even spoke much. Heather was always watching Akey whenever she was near him, as if warning him not to try anything.

In only a week, everyone was exhausted.

Toothless hadn't left Hiccup's side, watching him and taking care of the young man. Hiccup slipped in and out of being himself, sometimes acting like a terrified hatchling, other times pacing on his back legs, sometimes chattering nervously about nothing in particular. He seemed sometimes to know what was happening to himself, sometimes have no clue what was going on. Whether it was stress or a side effect of the transformation or even the start of the madness to come, no one knew. Either way, he never left his hut, and only Akey and Astrid ever really saw him.

Astrid closed the door behind her as she walked into Hiccup's hut again. She walked halfway up the stairs to see Hiccup standing up, surprisingly. He was pacing in circles, but stopped as she approached. He winced and shrunk a little as if he knew her thoughts.

"I know I should be resting." He mumbled. "But It's hard to sleep with wings and a tail. I don't know how Toothless does it."

"Seems you haven't lost your sense of humor." Astrid observed, walking closer and standing close to him. "That's good."

Hiccup didn't reply for a long moment.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" He asked at length. "Oh, gods, I'm going to die." He put a paw to his head and sighed softly. His tail twitched.

"Don't say that." Astrid stated. "We'll find a way to stop this."

"I had hoped I would at least live to be twenty." Hiccup moaned, starting to pace again. "I'm going to die."

Astrid had no idea how to comfort him.

"I-" She started to speak, only to stop. "Hiccup..."

He sighed again and deflated. "I'm sorry, Astrid. I shouldn't be like this. I- I'm just glad we got somewhere with our relationship before," He gestured to himself. "This happened. I'm so glad that I'll get to be with you and Toothless and not somewhere dead already." He paused.

"I should be thankful I have some time to do things before I lose my mind. Maybe I should spend some time with Snotlout. I haven't told him how much I appreciate him recently. Maybe some relaxing with Fishlegs. And some flight with Toothless." He glanced at his feet. "Although, the saddle will need some adjustments before I can do that... although, it does feel nice to have two feet again..."

Astrid put a hand on his shoulder, tears flowing from her eyes. He winced a little with pain.

"Hiccup, I'll make whatever time you have left the best, I promise. Even if I can't save you, at least I can be here for you." Astrid promised, staring into his eyes. His expression went very soft and gentle.

"Thank you, Astrid. It means a lot to know you care."

Astrid moved closer and wrapped her arms around him, careful not to hug too tight because she knew he was still in pain. He hugged back. After a moment, he began to sob quietly, folding into her arms and crying.

"I'm going to die..."


	4. Chapter 4

The question came up one meeting in the clubhouse.

"I wonder what the Chief will think about this." Ruffnut asked quietly. There was silence immediately. No one had thought to contact Hiccup's father about this mess. Astrid facepalmed.

"Oh, great Odin above. Who's going to tell the chief?"

Snotlout ducked. "Not me. He'd kill me or throw me or something if I told him."

Tuff shook his head slowly. "Alas, I don't think I fit that duty very well. Stoick would think I was trying to prank him in the name of Loki." Ruff nodded in agreement.

Fishlegs shrunk a little. "I wouldn't have the guts to say it out loud." He said quietly.

"Guess it's up to me." Astrid said. "I'll send a Terror mail to him to come here and I'll meet him at the docks."

Just then, they all heard the noise of some shuffling feet along with some complaints.

"Hic-cup, you sh-ould be in your c-cave, res-resting, c-come back, p-please..." It was Akey, that unsure stutter was unmistakable. Toothless could be heard as well, and although they couldn't understand what he was saying, they could guess. Hiccup came around the corner, and for the first time, everyone saw him.

Fishlegs gasped loudly and fainted. Hiccup winced as he saw his friend hit the floor. Meatlug walked up to her rider and began gently licking him.

The twins just stared, jaws agape in pure shock. Snotlout took a step back.

"Hiccup, I thought- I thought you wanted to stay in your hut." Astrid pointed out, approaching him.

Hiccup nodded slowly. "I did, but I was thinking. You all deserve to see me. I should be out here trying to help somehow instead of hiding and feeling sorry for myself." Akey appeared around the corner followed by a frantic looking Toothless, and both of them immediately froze.

"Hic-cup, what- what are you- doing? You should r-rest and keep up- your- strength." Akey stated, grabbing Hiccup's forarm and trying to gently pull him back to his bed.

"No, not anymore, I want to help." Hiccup retorted, lifting his paw away from Akey. He turned back to Astrid and walked in all the way, looking at the others. Tuffnut was the first to approach, besides Astrid. He looked Hiccup over.

"Y'know, H, this is a good look for you. I'm liking the wings. You look like some sort of awesome... weredragon." Tuffnut grinned mischievously, walking around Hiccup a few times. "I bet you could even learn to fly on your own. You wouldn't need Toothless anymore with your own wings."

Toothless gave an irritated snort and rolled his big green eyes. Hiccup tilted his head slightly, the black ears on his head lifting.

"Huh. You're right. I bet I _could_ fly, couldn't I? I'd be the first Viking to fly without dragon help. I wouldn't need to use the Dragonfly, either." Then he snorted. "You do realize Toothless needs _me_ to fly, right?" He said, putting his paws on his hips.

Tuffnut shrugged. "Imagine the pranks you could play." He chuckled, rubbing his hands together with a fiendish smile. "Just imagine the possibilities."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "That's not what I want to do with the rest of my life, Tuff." Silence met his words. He shrugged. "What?"

Everyone looked awkward all of a sudden. It seemed to be a touchy subject. Hiccup sighed.

"Anyway, what were you all talking about before I got here?" He walked forward and stood in front of the center table.

"You." Snotlout said. "We were figuring out how to tell Stoick."

Hiccup winced noticeably.

"I-I see." There was an awkward silence.

"Guess I'd better go Terror mail Stoick." Astrid moved out the door, but before she left, gently put a hand on Hiccup's shoulder for a moment. Their eyes met, and Hiccup smiled at her. "It'll be okay." She mouthed. He nodded slowly.

* * *

Stoick the Vast was known for a lot of things. Subtlety wasn't really one of them. As soon as the Terror flapped lopsidedly into his arms, he grabbed the parchment, and started reading.

 _To Stoick;_

 _Please come to The Edge as soon as possible. Hiccup has a problem. Don't panic, bring Gobber, and any books you can on Dragon species._

 _-Astrid._

Stoick nearly dropped the parchment. A problem? What problem? He turned and ran toward the Great Hall, grabbing anything that looked sort of like a book on dragons, and piled it in one arm, the Terror on his shoulder squeaking as his perch ran around. Stoick then bolted toward the forge, where Gobber was hammering a sword into shape. The large blacksmith turned around and raised an eyebrow as Stoick ran full pelt into his shop with an armful of books and a Terrible terror on his shoulder.

"Eh? What's the matter, Stoick?" Gobber asked.

"This." Stoick panted, thrusting the letter into Gobber's hands. Gobber read it and his eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"Kinda myserious, aint it? What sort o' problem, I wonder?"

"Let's go and find out." Stoick stated, turning and stomping towards his house.

* * *

Stoick landed Skullcrusher on the landing pad and stepped off of the Rumblehorn, followed by Grump carrying Gobber and the sack of books. Astrid walked up to them, Stormfly following close behind.

"Alright, what's the problem, Astrid?" Stoick asked. Gobber walked up beside him, watching Astrid with a concerned expression. Astrid took a deep breath and braced herself.

"Hiccup... well... he's sort of..."

"Out with it, lass." Stoick commanded. "What's wrong with my son?"

"He's a dragon. Sort of." Astrid stated. "He's been partially transformed into one." Stoick's eyes widened. If it had been anyone else, he would have been furious for this joke being a waste of his time. But Astrid would never joke around like this, it just wasn't something she did. Stoick's hands balled into fists.

"How did this happen?" He asked. Astrid sighed and launched into an explanation of Akey, Toothless, the Edge being destroyed, and everything after that. All the while, Stoick turned pale. "Where is he?"

"In his hut. He's not feeling very well today, so, sir, I wouldn't recommend that you go in there. He's... fragile today, ever since this morning. Maybe tomorrow-"

Stoick wasn't really known for listening, either. He turned in the direction of his son's hut, Gobber following behind with a frantic Astrid.

"This isn't going to end well..." Astrid sighed. "Why won't he listen?"

"Neither o' em listen very well, lass." Gobber muttered to her. "It's a Haddock thin', I guess."

* * *

Inside his hut, Hiccup was pacing in tight lopsided circles, stopping sometimes and switching direction. It wasn't clear to Toothless or Akey what exactly what was bothering him, but something certainly was.

"Hic-cup? You- a-kay? What-t wrong?" Akey asked, watching the agitated Haddock.

"Ugh... my wings hurt..." Hiccup moaned, stretching them out and twitching them this way and that. "I don't want to be a dragon, why in Thor's name to I have to be a dragon?" He hissed. "Can't I just be normal, for crying out loud?"

Akey continued watching his pacing. Toothless tried approaching, unsure what the reaction would be.

"Y'know, I think I want fish." Hiccup said to himself. "Raw, regurgitated fish... and not just any, I want-" He suddenly dropped to all fours and began running in circles as if he was chasing his tail, then he fell over and clutched his head as if in pain. "Fish! Why do I want fish? I'm a Viking, I eat mutton and chicken, cooked, preferably, not fish! Not FISH! Not raw-w-w fiiish! Stop it!"

Toothless moaned and shook his head. _"When will this end, Akey?"_

 _"When he dies."_ Akey said softly. _"The madness will only get worse."_

Toothless growled. _"I don't like it. I wish this wasn't happening, I wish-!"_ The Night Fury jumped when the door to Hiccup's hut suddenly opened. _"Oh, I thought Astrid was going to stay away today!"_ Toothless complained.

"Hiccup?" It was Stoick's voice.

Toothless winced. _"Oh no, not HIM... Hiccup isn't going to like this..."_

Hiccup hadn't seemed to notice his father's presence yet, groaning "I don't want raw fish" over and over under his breath.

 _"Who's that?"_ Akey asked, sounding confused.

 _"Hiccup's father. The hugest, most intimidating, most senselessly stubborn and insensitive Viking in this whole world. If there's anything Hiccup doesn't need right now... It's whatever that man is going to do."_ Toothless hissed.

 _"Uh oh."_ Akey muttered.

Stoick came up the stairs, and that's when Hiccup noticed him. The young man sat bolt upright and stared, frozen, at his father. Stoick stared back, shock clear on his features.

"What in the name of Odin's beard-?"

Hiccup panicked, turning and bolting under the bed and tucking his wings and tail in as fast as was possible. In moments, he was hidden, hissing from underneath.

"Was that Hiccup?" Stoick asked, turning to Toothless and Akey for answers. Both of them nodded slowly. Stoick approached the bed, causing Hiccup to go from hissing to growling. "Son?" Stoick asked, lowering his massive frame and peeking underneath the bed. A pair of glowing green eyes stared back.

 _"Stay away."_ Hiccup hissed, speaking in dragon, surprisingly enough. Whether he actually knew what he had just said was anyone's guess. Toothless' jaw dropped slightly.

 _"Did he just...?"_ The Night Fury asked.

 _"He spoke in dragonese."_ Akey replied. _"It's normal, though I doubt he knows what he just said. Transformation doesn't necessarily mean understanding the language, though, it might happen, who knows..."_ Stoick had no clue what had just transpired, but he was confused why his son was growling at him.

"Son? Hiccup, it's me. Calm down and come out of there."

 _"No! I said stay away from me!"_ Hiccup growled. _"Stay away!"_

"Hiccup?" Stoick asked, terribly confused.

"He said- he wants you to- ba-ack off." Akey said helpfully. "He's spe-eaking in drago-n-nese." Stoick turned to Akey in amazement.

"Why not Norse?"

Akey shrugged. "I do-on't kno-w. He prob-bly do-esn't ev-e-n know Wha-at's hap-pening, or what- lang-guage he-s speak-king." Stoick furrowed his eyebrows and turned back to the bed.

"Hiccup, come out. There's nothing to be afraid of." Toothless was getting irritated with Stoick's constant pushing of Hiccup, whose mental state was not at full strength. He walked forward and gave a warning growl. Stoick ignored him. "Hiccup-"

 _"I said no!"_ Hiccup roared, instinctively opening his mouth and building something he didn't know he had. A blueish purple glow formed in his throat and lungs, showing through his thinner human skin with an ominous sound. _"B-b-back- back off!"_ Stoick wisely backed off, surprised at the glow and the volume of his son's dragon noises. But Hiccup had started something he didn't know how to control and began to panic as his blast built up more than was necessary. "Help me!" He yelled in Norse.

"Shoot it, Hic-cup!" Akey yelled. "You'll hu-rt yourself!"

Hiccup released the blast upwards, and it tore a hole through his bed and blew up when it hit the ceiling, causing a huge explosion. The roof was blown in all directions, including outside, and the sides of the hut were not in good shape either.

The hut collapsed.


	5. Chapter 5

Tuffnut and Ruffnut had been standing nearby when Hiccup's hut literally blew up. Tuffnut gasped.

"Whoa. Looks like Toothless is mad at something." He turned to his sister, who nodded. Barf and Belch exchanged a glance.

 _"Should we go help?"_ Barf asked his other side.

 _"Hiccup is our friend, as is Toothless."_ Belch answered. _"We have to help them. What decent dragon wouldn't?"_

The Zippleback heads grabbed their riders and flew off toward the Haddock hut. Well, what was _left_ of it. The remains that were still there were smoking slightly, and standing there was a shocked Stoick the Vast, an irritated and flabbergasted Toothless, a desperate Astrid, a confused Gobber, and Stormfly.

Barf 'n' Belch landed nearby, gently placed their riders down, and looked around at the sight. Astrid was the first to move, running for the centre of the wreckage. There was an ominous creak from the wood they were standing on.

Hiccup was crouching under his destroyed bed, whimpering and shaking. Akey moved toward him, and heard what he was saying.

"I'm not a dragon, I'm not a dragon, I'm not-" Hiccup broke off into sobs.

"Hic-cup, come- on- o-out. It's o-o-okay. No-b-body was h-hurt." Akey soothed, peeking his head under the burnt bed frame.

Hiccup looked up at him, his face streaked with tears, some ash on his face. His black ears were all the way back, pinned to the top of his head.

"I'm not a d-d-" He gasped and winced. "I'm a monster..."

"No." Akey asserted, not stuttering for the first time. "You are not."

Toothless unfroze for the first time, moving to his rider and causing the hut's supports to creak menacingly with the shift of weight.

 _"He's right... oh, if only I could tell you how right he is, Hiccup..."_ Toothless crooned, nudging Hiccup with his nose. _"I promise you'll be okay..."_ Toothless knew how empty the promise was.

He hated the helpless feeling that he couldn't do anything for Hiccup. He winced and drew his tongue over Hiccup's head, soaking his hair and face. Hiccup let out a protest, gently pushing Toothless's head away but not really trying, also attempting to get the slobber off his face.

"Toothless, you know that doesn't wash out..." Hiccup mumbled, acting more like himself. "Th-thanks, bud..."

* * *

After the shock of everything wore off, everyone crowded into the clubhouse to talk about everything. Hiccup was curled next to Toothless, with Astrid kneeling next to him and Akey sitting uneasily nearby.

Despite the plan to talk... no one did for while. An awkward silence ensued. Snotlout was the first to speak.

"So... now what?" He asked nervously.

"Hiccup can stay with me." Astrid stated.

"No." Hiccup said, shakily at first, and then louder and firmer. "No, I won't burden you like that, Astrid. I might destroy your hut too."

"You won't." Astrid replied.

"I destroyed mine." Hiccup stated flatly.

Stoick spoke up. "That was an accident. You were startled."

 _"By you."_ Toothless pointed out. Hiccup jumped and turned to Toothless.

"What did you just say?" The teen asked. Toothless turned back to him, ears tilting with confusion.

 _"Huh?"_ The Night Fury grumbled. _"What do you mean, what did I say, you've never-"_ His eyes widened with surprise. So did Hiccup's.

"I can- I-I can understand you, Toothless!" Hiccup said, a smile slowly forming on his face. "This is great!"

Toothless grinned too, teeth retracted. _"Well, at least there's_ something _positive about this experience!"_

Hiccup cuddled closer to Toothless, smiling. "You said it, bud."

"So, this is fine and all, but what are we gonna do ta fix this?" Gobber piped up. "We can't have Hiccup as, well... this, can we?" He gestured to Hiccup. "Eh, no offence."

Toothless snorted dismissively and wrapped his tail around Hiccup.

Stoick placed his hands on the center table. "Alright, we have to go over the situation, calmly. Hiccup is... this. We have to find a way to get him back to normal. And from what I've heard, we don't have much time to do it. Whatever we do, we do it now."

Fishlegs looked nervous. "But... we don't know _anything_. And what we do know... isn't very promising." The Ingerman looked rather upset. At this, Akey moved over to the table and climbed up onto it, looking up at the chief. The boy was very small in comparison.

"S-sir? I-" He seemed to be considering what to say. "Hiccup c-can't-" He took a deep breath, shaking. "Can't be saved. I- lots of people I- I mean-" He drooped. "I d-don't know w-why I'm like this. Everyone I get close to, everyone I want to care about- they all end up the same way." The boy was shaking. "They all die. Because of me. Because there's something _wrong_ with me. And... there's nothing I can do to change it. Nothing I try works. Nothing changes. I-" He stopped abruptly. Stoick looked stormy. There was a heavy silence in the room.

"No." Stoick said, his voice dangerously low. "NO." He growled, pounding a fist on the table. Akey seemed to shrink even more. "I refuse to believe this. I refuse to believe that my son is going to die like this. He's a Haddock. Haddocks don't go out without a fight, and we are going to find something. We are going to save him."

* * *

Days crawled by, and Hiccup was losing himself more and more with every handful of days. Akey decided to try his best to help, even though he wasn't hopeful. One morning, when Hiccup was more himself, he tugged on the haddock's arm.

"F-follow m-m-me." He stuttered.

"What's up?" Hiccup mumbled, but let himself be dragged along by the small boy. Akey took him to a cliff on the edge.

"I want y-you to try f-flying." Akey pronounced. As if they agreed, Hiccup's wings spread slightly, and the tail-fins opened up and flattened themselves on his tail.

"Oh, no, that's a bad idea." Hiccup said firmly. "Astrid would kill me." He still peered over the edge, his wings twitching ever wider with the idea. Freedom. He knew it from the taste he had first gotten in the cove, day after day of slight modification to Toothless' prosthetic, the first test drive. The rush of wind hitting you, your heart racing, stomach clenching with each dive. It wasn't for the faint of heart.

But for him, it felt right.

But flying himself? He had never flown. It seemed like a very bad idea. "Shouldn't we uh... go somewhere that has less chance of me dying if I can't fly?" Hiccup suggested. Akey nodded.

"Kay." Akey chirped. Hiccup sighed and turned toward a different area of the island. A large area with some high hills, but no real large drops. If he couldn't get airborne, perhaps he'd just tumble in the grass instead of falling to his death. Seemed like a good idea.

"Alright, how do I do this?" Hiccup asked, turning to Akey. The boy cocked his head to one side. He hadn't expected to give detailed explanations.

"Just t-try." Akey stated. At Hiccup's not very impressed look, he sighed softly. "Open your w-wings." Hiccup did so, spreading them. "C-crouch and p-put your w-weight in your f-f-front legs." Hiccup got onto all fours and crouched, which was awkward, but he felt a rush of determination. He had wings. He was going to fly.

"Got it. What now?"

"Open your t-tail-fins. Tilt them upwards slightly. D-don't flatten them, that's f-f-for gliding." Hiccup tested the muscles, shifting them around and looking back at his tail. He had never had a tail before, this was going to be different. He found himself concentrating hard to move them, and hold his wings out. _So many muscles._ This was weird. "Okay, to t-take off, spring with your f-front legs, and then p-push with your back l-legs, then pump your w-wings. That sh-should get you in the air."

Hiccup went over the steps over and over in his head, trying to memorize the muscles to move. Taking a deep breath, he tried to concentrate, and-

Push.

Jump.

Flap.

Now what?

Splat.

"Ouch." Hiccup had made it up, flapped, then failed to flap again, so he had fell right back where he had started, skidding face first in the grass, tail and wings splayed behind him. "Okay, what am I supposed to do after I get up there?" Hiccup asked, rubbing grass off his face with a paw.

"Flap." Akey said simply. "I th-thought your instincts would h-have k-k-kicked in."

"I'm not a dragon, so they didn't." Hiccup snorted.

"J-just try again." Akey said.

Hiccup nodded, putting himself in position, concentrating, memorizing-

Push.

Jump.

Flap.

Flap.

Was he doing it? He was pumping his wings as hard as he could, trying desperately to get altitude.

"Your tail-fins!" Akey yelled. "S-slightly up! Up! Not flat!"

He tried to flap and move his tail-fins at the same time. _How does Toothless do this?!_

Frantic, he flapped more, managing to flip himself sideways and land ungracefully on the hill.

"Ouch." He grunted, pushing himself up again. "Well that was unsuccessful." He shook off his wings, which were covered in grass from the short roll. "I don't think I can do this, Akey." Hiccup sighed, flopping back first onto the hillside. He felt something press against him and stiffened for a moment. It was Akey. He flopped right next to Hiccup, scooting closer to the Haddock.

"You're thinking t-too much." The boy commented, staring Hiccup in the eyes.

"How so? I mean, if I don't think about it, I'll forget a step!" Hiccup snapped, exasperated.

Akey smiled. "No you w-won't."

"Yes I will. You can't do anything without planning first. You can't build a house, or a saddle, or make a shirt without some sort of forethought. A blueprint. A pattern." Hiccup motioned with his paws. "When I built Toothless' fin, I used a pattern I drew up first. I had too, or else I would have stumbled through a blind process, and he never would have flown."

"You can't plan everything, Hiccup." Akey murmured. "You can't plan for every burst of wind, every storm, every unexpected event. You have to go with the flow sometimes."

Hiccup ignored the fact that Akey didn't stutter through that entire heartfelt and incredibly insightful sentence and tried to think about what he had said.

 _You can't plan everything._

"I guess that's also a metaphor for life, huh." Hiccup said softly. "You can't plan for being suddenly transformed into a dragon."

Akey remained silent. Hiccup remembered what the boy had said in the clubhouse.

 _Everyone I get close to, everyone I want to care about- they all end up the same way. They all die. Because of me. Because there's something wrong with me. And... there's nothing I can do to change it. Nothing I try works. Nothing changes._

Hiccup sighed softly and wrapped a paw around Akey's shoulders.

"Hey. I'm ready to try again." He sat up, and got into the ready position. He turned to see Akey had sat up and was watching him. Behind the slightly encouraging smile was a huge amount of pain and regret.

 _He's thinking about it too._

Hiccup went over the steps again, focusing. Then, he tried to focus on something he'd been trying to ignore and repress. That part of him that was dragon. That part of him that could understand Toothless. That part of him that could breathe fire.

The part that knew how to fly.

 _You can't plan everything._

He took a deep breath.

Push.

Jump.

Flap.

Don't think.

He struggled slightly, his mind was screaming to think. That dragon part, the one that scared him? It told him to fly. He continued flapping, taking every second one at a time. Slight breeze from his left. Flap. Breathe. It was working. He hadn't realized his eyes had been closed, but once he opened them- he realized just how _high_ he had gotten. He snapped his wings out to glide.

 _Flat to glide._

His tail-fins obeyed, holding themselves out flat. The small wings at the base of his tail spread out to their fullest. He was flying. He was in the air. A joyful whoop ripped from his lungs before he could stop it.

The freedom.

It was so... there.

His heart was racing, and that familiar rush or pure adrenaline shot through him. He twitched a tail-fin experimentally to the right. He banked slightly in that direction. He looked down at the hills below. Akey was a small little speck below, staring up at him. There was another speck. A larger one. Hiccup nearly fell out of the sky when he recognized Toothless, far below. Even from here, he could see terror in his friend's eyes.

He pulled his wings in slightly and began to descend. He couldn't help the smile on his face when he crashed somewhat ungracefully, a tangle of Hiccup and paws and tail on the ground like goofy hatchling in front of Toothless.

"Did you see me? I was flying!" Hiccup stood on two legs and then proceeded to trip on his tail. Once he was up, he received a cuff to the head."Ow!"

 _'I can't believe you! That was incredibly reckless! You have no clue how worried I was!'_ Toothless barked. ' _The Dragonfly isn't enough for you, huh? You're going to make my scales go grey prematurely! And don't look at me like that, I_ know _you can understand me!'_

Hiccup couldn't frown even slightly in the face of his friend's scolding. He had just flown with the wings of a dragon. He was never going to forget that.


	6. Chapter 6

With the rush of his success in flight, Hiccup got it into his head to try doing other dragon things, which his father heavily disapproved of.

"We're trying to make you human, not more dragon." The chief said firmly, although he didn't expect his wishes to be obeyed by any stretch of the imagination. He was right. Only half an hour after saying this to Hiccup, said party was attempting to fly again, this time in slower bursts, with Toothless watching, and not going as high. The Night Fury wouldn't have it any differently. He insisted on watching.

Hiccup was determined to master flying in an incredibly short span of time, so he was pushing himself harder than was ideal. It kept him sane, however, having something other than his near insanity and death and the fact that all this was happening to focus on, it was helping him relax. Flying was hard, yet at the same time, relaxing.

If he could just learn how to turn better.

He crashed for the umpteenth time into a rock he had tried to avoid. Fortunately for him, he had managed to slow himself down so he didn't break anything, but it still left a somewhat sore bunch of ribs. Toothless bounded over, already preparing for serious injury and to tell Hiccup off. Hiccup was standing already, rubbing at where he had smacked the rock.

"That's gonna leave a mark."

His friend reached him and began sniffing him over, brow furrowed with concern.

 _'You really have to master your turning.'_ The Night Fury grumbled.

"You're telling me." Hiccup agreed. He pulled up his tunic, and sure enough, there was a bruise. Akey walked up as well.

"Th-that doesn't look s-so bad. A-as long as nothing's broken..." He mumbled. Toothless sniffed.

 _'Humans are more fragile than dragons. They get hurt easier.'_ He winced at memories of Hiccup's difficulty getting used to his lost hind-leg years before. _'We heal easier, and have stronger bones, harder scales. This could be worse than it looks.'_

"Nah, I'm fine, bud. Besides, I'm dragon now, aren't I? I can take it." Hiccup batted one of Toothless' ears playfully with a paw.

 _'I don't think you're taking this as seriously as you should._ ' Toothless grunted.

"Whatever." Hiccup said. _'No prodding.'_ He grumbled, testing his dragonese.

"I think you m-mean _no problem.'_ Akey corrected.

"Thanks." Hiccup smiled, getting himself into the familiar take-off position again. He took deep breaths, narrowing his eyes. His tail swished back and forth before settling directly behind him and opening out to fly. He sprang from the ground and pumped his wings, gaining a meter of height in a moment. He opened his wings into a straight position, flapping a couple times to fly nice and straight across the valley from one side to the other and putting out his paws to land.

Which was another thing he needed to work on.

"C'mon..."

He landed unsteadily on his front legs, which sent a ripple of discomfort up through his arms and shoulders. He managed to stop himself using his front paws, landing belly first in the grass. His smoothest landing yet. He jumped up with a whoop and did a celebratory twirl, managing to trip himself with his tail for the hundredth time and landing face first on the hill. It didn't do anything to smother his victory, he rolled over and looked up at the clouds, collecting himself for another try when Toothless' face blotted out the sky above.

 _'Not bad.'_ He grunted. _'If you want to shatter your shoulder-bones and break your arms.'_

"Hey, that was my best yet, bud!" Hiccup complained, aiming a playful swipe at his friend.

 _'You have to land on your tougher hind-legs, soft-scales!'_ Toothless snorted, rolling his acid-green eyes, another thing he had picked up from Hiccup.

"Well, how do you suppose I do that, fluff for brains?" Hiccup snorted. "I fly forwards, not backwards. You're built for this, your legs are below you. Mine fly out behind me. Your front legs are tough."

 _'Adapt. You're good at it. Eel-breath.'_

"Hey, that's uncalled for, dull-teeth." Hiccup retorted.

 _'Fat-tail.'_

"Dumb-lizard."

 _'Sea-legs.'_

"Useless reptile."

 _'Hairy-no-brainer.'_

"Soft-egg."

 _'Hey!'_ Toothless decided that that was the last one he would put up with and ended it by licking Hiccup upside the head, repeatedly. _'No one calls me soft-egg!'_

"Stop! Ugh!" Hiccup complained, trying desperately to get the slobber off. "You know that doesn't wash out!"

 _'Take that, fur-head.'_

* * *

It was exactly one moon since Akey had shown up for the first time on the edge. Which meant it was full-moon again. Toothless was sitting in the dragon-woodcaves aka the stables, with Hiccup next to him. Akey was curled up against the wall in front of them, dreading what would happen the moment the full-moon rose above the ocean. Again. Just like every time since whatever had been his birth. He could already feel the familiar tingles running through his small body, the spines on his back shifting slightly.

It was rising.

He moaned not just with pain but with the thought that he might hurt Hiccup again. Toothless knew what was happening, and wrapped his tail around Hiccup.

"Hey, Akey... I don't know if it would stop it, but you could still come over here and-" Hiccup mumbled.

"N-no." Akey mumbled. "It won't." He shuddered. His shoulders tingled with the wings that would shoot out any moment, his hips ached with an invisible tail. "I might was w-well just get r-ready for it."

Toothless was thinking back to last time he had seen it. Akey had very suddenly grown to what seemed twice his size, wings, tail, everything. He had ceased to be Akey. The monster he transformed into had attacked Toothless blindly, screeching like nothing the Night Fury had ever heard. Not dragon, not human. No regular creature. Even smaller than Toothless, the dragon had to pull out everything he knew to defend himself from the fierce little monster.

Akey had left a few claw-marks on his underbelly that could have been more serious, had he not moved over a few claw-widths. He had only just managed to fend the creature off. After that, Akey had ran off to the rest of the Edge, causing serious damage and havoc, startling the other dragons, injuring anything he saw.

He was a real threat.

Toothless was not going to let him _near_ Hiccup this time. Hiccup wanted just the opposite. He wanted Akey close. He wanted to help the boy. Hiccup wanted to hug him close, keep him from changing, tell him it was going to be alright.

But there was nothing he could do, and he knew it. No chains, no ropes, no bars or cell, he thought, could hold Akey in his transformed state. They would just have to brace themselves for the storm. If it had been up to Heather, Akey would be left on a deserted island for the night.

But not on my watch, Hiccup thought.

 _I won't let anyone abandon you._

Akey suddenly reared up in agony, a sudden transformation out of nightmares happening right in front of Hiccup. Akey went from a smallish boy with slightly odd features to that nightmare creature Hiccup had hoped never to deal with again.

 _Please let this go okay._

 _Please let me help him._

He moved toward Akey, ignoring Toothless' snarling. He held out a paw to the boy. Akey turned to face him, snarling. Sharp fangs bared, pupils narrowed to slits. Nostrils flared, a slight purplish hue in his throat. A slight drool on those fangs. Akey sounded more horrifying than Toothless on his worst day.

"It's me, Akey. It's Hiccup. Remember? You know me, buddy." Hiccup held the paw closer. "Remember? C'mon-" Akey reared up, and if he could possibly get any scarier, he just had. He was taller than Hiccup in this form, and easily able to kill the haddock. Hiccup knew that. "C'mon." Hiccup inwardly smacked himself. Maybe dragonese would reach Akey better. He cleared his throat.

 _'Key? Be calmer much please, it is friend...'_

 _'What in the great sky above are you doing?'_ Toothless barked softly. _'He won't understand you.'_

Hiccup ignored him and inched ever closer to Akey.

 _'Please to be calmer, key, now is okay. Listen to me. I will not be harming you. No one will be harming you. Listen to me, listen.'_ Hiccup hoped Akey could understand. Akey hadn't moved, he still looked ready to leap at Hiccup and tear his throat out with one terrible and deadly swipe. _'You are not monster. You are good friend. You want not to harm me. You know this, key, please, please listen, hear me, I plead you. Come to here. Come to friend.'_

Akey still did not move. Nothing seemed to resonate with him. Hiccup made one last attempt, reaching out with a paw. He couldn't mess this up, he had to do it right. He only had one chance. Akey could attack at any moment.

 _Please._

He took a deep breath and reached out more, shaking. He forced himself to hold still, holding his paw out in a familiar way. After gazing meaningfully into Akey's eyes, he turned away. He closed his eyes. He put trust into Akey, the same trust that he did for Toothless in the cove. It had always worked before. It would work now.

Akey didn't move. He stared, eyes glinting at the outstretched paw. Toothless held his breath, already nervous. He knew Hiccup was gutsy. This wasn't going to work, what was he doing? Akey couldn't understand this right now. Akey was a monster right now. Trust wasn't in his mind. Killing was. All it would take was one moment, one spring, one claw- He forced himself to breathe. He had to trust Hiccup too. Maybe it would work. Maybe.

Akey's eyes flitted from Hiccup's paw to his neck. Toothless tensed.

 _No, no, no-_

Akey leaped. He sprung with such brutal, sudden force, that Toothless didn't have time to react. In one heartbeat, Akey was on Hiccup. Cruel teeth met soft neck skin. Hiccup let out a strangled yelp of pain as Akey bit him, hard. Akey clamped his jaws on his victim's neck. Fortunately, Akey couldn't reach his spine. But his throat was less than lucky. Toothless smacked the monster off his friend with a powerful paw, and then placed himself over Hiccup, snarling in the way of don't-put-one-more-claw-on-my-friend-or-I-swear-I-will-make-your-last-moments-alive-excruciatingly-painful.

Akey stared for a moment, snarling, blood dripping from his fangs. _Hiccup's_ blood. Toothless hissed and built up fire in his throat as a warning. The creature decided not to press his luck, turning and dashing full pelt out of the stables. Toothless waited for a heartbeat, then looked down at his friend. There was a nasty, very deep bite mark on Hiccup's neck. The teen was struggling to breathe, letting out weak coughs. Toothless whined and began to lick the wound as gently as he could. The taste of blood made him want to gag, but he forced it down and concentrated on helping Hiccup. To his dismay, Hiccup's breathing seemed to be getting weaker.

 _'No, c'mon, breathe-'_

Hiccup began to go still, and Toothless, continuing to lick, pressed a paw against his chest, hoping that there was still some movement. Sure enough, Hiccup's heart was still beating. Toothless looked his friend's neck over. There wasn't much more he could do. The bleeding had all but stopped, but the damage to Hiccup's neck had been done. Toothless had to hope Akey's jaw didn't get stronger in his transformation, because then the monster would have had no trouble crushing Hiccup's windpipe. Akey had never bitten him, so he didn't know. The best clue he had was that Hiccup was breathing, albeit weakly.

He curled himself around Hiccup's limp form, draping his tail over Hiccup's hind-legs and folding a wing over him. Toothless put his head close to Hiccup's, every once in a while licking Hiccup's head-fur. He checked Hiccup's breathing periodically, and Hiccup was still going every time he checked, although it didn't stop him from being terrified that every weak breath would be his best friend's last.

Another fear he had was that Hiccup's lungs were filling with blood, but that didn't seem to be the case. Toothless stayed alert, focusing on Hiccup.

 _'I'm not going to lose you.'_ He sniffed softly, his breath ruffling Hiccup's head-fur. _'Don't you dare leave me.'_

A moment later, Astrid entered the stable and saw Hiccup. She ran toward him, and Toothless lifted his wing so she could see him. Astrid gasped when she saw his neck, unsure what to do for a moment. Then she reached out and gently pushed a strand of his hair away from his face. At her touch, he began to move, and his eyes fluttered.

"Astrid?" He croaked.

"Right here." She said firmly, smiling weakly. "How do you feel? What happened?"

"Akey-" Hiccup broke off into a series of coughs. Toothless winced and gently nudged Hiccup with his nose. "I'm fine, bud. It's Akey, we need to-"

Astrid put a finger over his lips.

"It's okay. We managed to catch him. He didn't kill or injure anyone this time. It'll be okay." She gently grabbed his paw. "Let's get you some help, okay?" Hiccup smiled weakly at her.

"It's not his fault. He's a good kid. He'd never hurt me or any of us." Hiccup wheezed and began to cough again. Astrid smiled weakly. "I'll get through to him, let me up-" Toothless was not going to let his rider up. He placed a firm paw on Hiccup.

 _'Nope. Stay down. Akey will transform back at moon-set. He'll be fine until then. Just ask Astrid where he is.'_

Hiccup turned to Astrid. "Where is he? How'd you-"

"We used a small amount of dragon root. It was Fishlegs' idea, although he didn't like it, nothing else was working. We put him in one of the dragon-proof cages we got off the hunters. He'll be fine until he turns back. For now, let's get you resting." Astrid helped her boyfriend onto Toothless' back and they took the injured, exhausted Hiccup somewhere better to rest than a hardwood floor.


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry for the wait. Warning: emotion

* * *

Hiccup woke slowly, feeling consciousness slip into his body. He felt a stinging, throbbing pain in his neck, which wasn't pleasant. He sat up, and looked around. He stiffened with a small gasp. He was in Astrid's hut. He was on her small couch in the downstairs area. A fire was going, and Toothless was curled close to it.

Hiccup looked around and then decided to stay exactly where he was. He sat himself in a comfortable position on the couch, placing his tail so it flopped off the side. He had learned weeks ago that there was no comfortable human way to sit with wings, so he resigned himself to having them folded against his back and leaning against the back of the couch. The silence was comforting, broken only by Toothless' soft snores and the crackle of the fire.

 _'Yes, I'd love a cod...'_ Toothless mumbled in his sleep. Hiccup could only guess what he was dreaming about. _'No, no i'm allergic to... can't stand...'_

Hiccup smiled and rolled his eyes. He heard movement, and the door opened. Astrid came in, and turned to some guest she must have had with her.

"Well, you wanted to be here, come on in. It's okay. When he wakes up, you can..." She trailed off when she noticed Hiccup was already awake. "He's already up. Go on." Her voice was too gentle to be addressing Snotlout, so who-

Akey. Hiccup bit his lip. Akey would be very hesitant to be here. Hiccup peered down and saw the lad. He seemed even smaller than Hiccup had ever seen him. He was drooping as he moved forward, staring at his feet. He slowly moved toward Hiccup, and eventually glanced up. As soon as their eyes met, Hiccup saw just how much guilt was in the boy's eyes. He looked as though he would never forgive himself. The boy's eyes flitted to Hiccup's neck, winced, then flitted back down to his feet, where they stayed.

"H-h-hi, Hi-i-i-c-c-cup." He whispered.

"Hey Akey." Hiccup said as gentle as he could. "You okay?" Akey nodded quickly. Hiccup motioned for him to come closer. Akey didn't move. "Hey, c'mon, buddy. It's okay. I know it isn't your fault." Akey shrunk even more, and started shaking slightly.

"B-b-b-but it i-i-i-is." His voice was barely audible. "I hurt y-you."

 _'It is fine.'_ Hiccup insisted.

 _'No it's not.'_ Akey said in return, voice still soft and guilty in his other language. _'I could have killed you, and it's all my fault. Because I can't control what I am. Everything that's happened to you is because of me. I have to go.'_

 _'No. Stay. Please, key.'_ Hiccup begged. _'Not your fault. Is no one fault. Please.'_

Akey sighed and straightened. _'Even so. I cannot stay any longer. I'm putting everyone here in grave danger. One more moon and I could kill someone.'_ His mouth twisted in a grimace. _'It's happened before. Please, Hiccup. I must leave. Give me a boat, and I will go.'_

 _'No, I please no I can't-_ I can't let you go off like that." Hiccup said firmly. "We'll find a way, Akey you don't have to-"

 _'Yes, I do.'_ The boy stated firmly. _'I am a threat. A curse. A problem. Everywhere I go, disaster follows. I will not stay and put your lives at risk any more than I already have.'_ Reluctant tears were already forming in his eyes. He didn't _want_ to go. But he had to.

"You can't run forever." Hiccup pointed out. "No one can."

 _'Then hopefully I'll die somewhere and no one will be hurt ever again.'_ Akey said with conviction. _'Then this horrible beast will finally stop ending innocent lives.'_

Hiccup found himself shaking his head, refusing that this was the only way. "No, there has to be something. Anything. Akey, don't just quit-"

Akey lowered his gaze. He stared at his small feet, the knowledge of what he was and what he'd done and what he had to do weighing harder on his tiny frame more than any twelveish or eleven-year-old should ever have to deal with. With a deep breath, he gathered the strength to look up into Hiccup's eyes again.

 _'Thank you for all you've done for me. I don't deserve the kindness I've gotten from this place, and you, and your wonderful friends. But Heather is right.'_ Akey smiled weakly and put a hand on Hiccup's knee. _'I must go.'_ He shook slightly and sighed again. _'I'm so sorry for what I did to you. I'm so sorry you're going to die because of me. This is the punishment I deserve. Good- goodbye.'_

With this, he turned and walked uneasily to the door. Hiccup watched him, too burdened and upset to move.

"Akey..."

"What? He's not actually leaving, is he? " Astrid asked. She couldn't understand half the conversation, but she had gotten the meaning of it.

"He is." Hiccup said the moment the door to the hut closed again.

Akey was gone.

* * *

Not a moment after the boy's figure disappeared out the door did Hiccup waste. He stood to follow Akey, and he was steeling himself to follow him wherever the kid went, to argue, to hug. Astrid watched as he left, closing the door behind him. He followed the boy as he turned towards the heart of the Edge. He followed Akey across the valley. Through the woods. The sun slowly rose higher and higher. Hiccup began to realize where Akey was going, and a feeling of dread rose up in him. Akey was moving towards the volcano at the Edge's center.

"No, Akey..."

He hoped the boy's path would veer, but it never did. Hiccup began to feel incredibly distressed.

 _He's not going to just throw his life away, is he?_

The thought filled him with dread. He refused to believe it. Akey had to have _some_ sense of hope for his future... a future, Hiccup realized, that didn't have any reason to be hopeful. Much like his own. A future of torment. Of hurting others, no matter how hard you try to help, or however good your intentions are. Invention after invention failing. Person after person turned mad and killed to a curse.

Knowing it's not your fault, but like it or not, you can't and will never fit in.

The feeling of helplessness. Bitterness.

Akey had reached the mouth of the volcano. Hiccup was a few feet behind him, stealth abandoned. Akey probably knew he was there, but wasn't acknowledging his friend. Akey stepped forward until his small feet were at the very edge of the hot rock. The volcano hadn't erupted for a long time, but it was still hot. Hiccup could already feel the intense, unyielding heat from it's lava. Akey stood there for a very long time. Hiccup stood behind him, unsure what to do. The last conversation hadn't yielded any solution whatsoever. Why would this be different?

"We both know this is the only way." Akey said suddenly, conviction charging and hardening his voice more than usual.

"It's not a very good one." Hiccup said, walking forward. "Don't do this. I've been where you are. I once tried to do what you're doing. I figured that nothing could change, that I'd be stuck as Hiccup the Useless forever. I ended up failing even my own suicide attempt." He chuckled dryly at the irony. "Akey, come here. It's okay. Maybe we can't fix either of our problems. But I can be here for you."

"You fixed your problem." Akey said bitterly, not moving. "You're respected now. Even when you die, people are going to remember you as a hero. The boy who changed his world when he was only a teen, the boy that tamed a mighty Night Fury, the boy who was destined for greatness even when no one saw it. No one is going to remember me like that. Anyone who remembers me at all will remember me as someone who ruined their life. As the boy who never had control, who killed people. The cursed one." He was shaking slightly.

Hiccup took a step forward. Akey turned to look at him. "I don't want to live anymore." Akey said, full on crying now. "I don't want to go on like this." Hiccup took another step. Akey closed his eyes. He held his arms out and let himself fall. Hiccup gasped as he disappeared from sight. He moved with speed he didn't know he had and leaped after Akey, grabbing the boy's leg. Instinctively, he snapped out his wings and tried to gain height. The heat seared under his wings, and the hot air blasted him upwards. He wrapped himself around Akey when he was sure they were free of the volcano, and let himself fall to the rocky ground below.

He hit the rocks, and agony shot through him. He held Akey tight to him, refusing to let go. The boy was shivering slightly and letting himself be held as they tumbled down the side of the volcano. They eventually stopped when Hiccup ran out of momentum. Hiccup still refused to let go of Akey, even though the lava was far behind. He was afraid to let go of the boy, and he felt angry and confused, frustrated. He opened his eyes finally and opened his wings, which were raw from the tumble. Akey was curled up in Hiccup's paws, and shivering. He didn't know why.

"Hiccup, you-" He mumbled.

Emotion got the better of Hiccup, and in the moment, he felt the strain of what had just happened.

"Don't you ever do that again!" Hiccup said fiercely, hugging Akey to his chest. "Don't you ever. It's going to be alright."

Akey let himself be hugged for a decent length of time, then pushed away. He looked sadly up into Hiccup's eyes, pupils so wide it was adorable. He looked like a kicked puppy. He could see a sort of affection and protective fury in Hiccup's eyes. He began to feel guilty for yet again putting someone in danger. He drooped.

"Sorry."

Hiccup softened and gently rubbed a paw on Akey's shoulder.

"Hey. Just... just don't throw your life away like that. Things may be bad, but that's never a solution. Well, never a good one. Running away from the problem won't fix it. And you can't run away from what you are." Hiccup tried to smile.

Akey began to cry again, tears rolling down his freckled cheeks.

"A-kay." He mumbled. Hiccup held him close again as he began to let out small sobs, and they stayed like that as the sun rose in the sky.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I've been a little nervous about posting this chapter. But you know what, whatever here it comes. Please give me feedback. And sorry for being a scaredy cat about posting this one. Seriously I must have edited it about a billion times.**

* * *

"Wait." Snotlout said suddenly. It was during yet another of their meetings to get Hiccup back to normal. Everyone was there, minus Heather and Windshear. Akey was leaning into Hiccup, who was lying against Toothless. At Snotlout's sudden exclamation, everyone turned. Fishlegs looked up from the book he had been reading, and Stoick looked over at him from where he had been talking with Astrid. Gobber had just walked in.

"Hasn't it been a moon?" The teen stated. "Hiccup should be mad by now, right?"

Everyone stared at Hiccup, who seemed very much in his right mind, and was gently hugging Akey next to him. Akey perked up at this.

"You're r-right." He mumbled. "You should have gone mad by now, which signals you only have one moon left, but you're not mad." Astrid felt the first burst of hope she'd felt for a long while. The mood in the clubhouse became happier.

"Wait, so I'm actually right?" Snotlout asked. "I mean, yeah, of course I'm right." He smiled proudly, crossing his arms.

Hiccup looked somewhat cheered, and even Toothless was much happier. Akey tried to stay reserved, but this new hope put a spring even in his step.

* * *

Fishlegs had finally found information on Akey. It was a dusty, very well worn, incredibly old book written by some obscure dragon hunter. It showed a picture of a humanoid figure, followed by a dragon-humanoid figure, and an arrow showing flow between the two. The full moon was etched above the dragon figure.

The worn runes ran down the page, giving information.

 _Were-dragon:_

 _A horrible, unnatural beast I found on my travels. Takes the form of an innocent human at first glance. But as soon as the full moon rises, it transforms into a horrible, bloodthirsty beast with no known weaknesses. I have tangled with this beast more times than I have counted. They are dangerous, and should be avoided at all costs. I mean it. Run for your life. This creature holds a huge, terrifying curse within, a curse that can be passed to it's victim. It has the horrible instinct to destroy its victims in the most horrible way possible. Some sort of venom, I think._

 _When it gets in any human, it changes 'em. First, the victim gets all sympathetic to the beast. Wants ta protect it at all costs. Then it's victim turns dragon. Horrifying, I know. Then, at some point, the victim dies this horrible sort of way. I never seen it. I just know it's painful. As far as I know, there's no way to stop this. So, RUN._

After that, there were some graphic descriptions of the Were-dragons. Fishlegs put the book aside.

"There. That's all there is. It's not much, but it's something." He stated, rubbing a hand over his blonde hair.

"It matches Akey pretty well. I guess Akey has a species." Hiccup mumbled, a claw to his chin in thought. Akey was staring down at the paper that was all the research they could find on his species. A sadness was in his eyes.

"So this is all I am." He whispered. "And all I will ever be."

Hiccup reached out and grabbed the book. "There's no other notes? Nothing more?"

Fishlegs shook his head. "That's it. I combed through every single book we have here, every single book brought from Berk, Bork's notes, my notes, Dragon eye notes. This is it."

"Maybe not." Hiccup murmured, a smile growing on his face. He turned the paper around and showed it to Fishlegs, pointing to the page. "Look at the corner."

Fishlegs looked down at the corner. There was a lumpy circle surrounded by other lumpy circles. "Yeah, I saw that."

"Islands." Hiccup said. Fishleg's eyes widened.

"Not any we've seen before." The large teen stated.

"They look familiar to me." Hiccup said. "I think this is near the southern islands."

Fishlegs suddenly looked excited. "Maybe this is where he found the Were-dragons!"

"Are you g-guys actually t-trying to f-find more of me?" Akey asked. "That seems like a b-bad idea."

"Maybe if we can talk to them, they have a cure!" Hiccup said excitedly.

"Or they could be incredibly hostile." Astrid said. The boys turned to see her standing in the doorway. "Or they don't have a cure. And even if they don't attack the moment they see us, and there actually are a few there, Hiccup, we don't know if you'll die before we get there. You're not going."

"Yes I am, I'm the one you're trying to cure! Besides, I feel fine." Hiccup pointed out.

"You're not-"

"Yes I am."

"No-"

* * *

He ended up going. Hiccup modified Toothless' saddle for his large paws to fit in the stirrups, and he managed to sit on the Night Fury and work the tail somewhat clumsily while keeping his own tail tucked in and wings folded. It was hilarious and awkward to watch a Night Fury figure riding another Night Fury. Akey rode with Fishlegs. They took a few days of flying on and off to get there, but eventually, the islands were in sight.

Akey was understandably nervous. As was everyone else. They had no idea what to expect. Hiccup guided Toothless in close and took a fly over of the island, looking around among the trees and rocks. There seemed to be no movement in the thick foliage. But Toothless certainly smelled something.

 _'Smell danger, bud?'_

 _'Oh yes. Something's there. I don't like it.'_ The Night Fury growled.

Hiccup landed Toothless on the tip of the island, and Fishlegs landed, notes in his pocket and Akey moving nervously behind. Hiccup waved the others to wait from a distance and swoop in if they saw trouble. Then the four headed into the center of the thick forest on the island, trekking ever inward. Toothless remained on edge, pressing close to Hiccup. Akey stayed close to Hiccup as well, for a different reason. Toothless jumped. Everyone froze. There was a pair of golden-green eyes staring at them from the undergrowth. And another. And another. More and more eyes appeared, about eight, with silhouettes behind them.

 _'Nighfur.'_ One hissed.

 _'Nighfur? But no such thing ex-exist.'_ Another answered.

 _'Hush! Others may hear. Nighfur or no, we must act. There others here.'_ An older voice replied. Fishlegs whimpered softly.

"Are they... Were-dragons?" He whispered.

One of the voices spoke again. _'There is a young with them! We most act now!'_

Hiccup shook his head to clear it. He had to speak.

 _'Hello? I am Hic. This is Fangless. We are friends. We come wanting help.'_

There was a hushed silence.

 _'I-Is he one of us?'_

 _'No. He is blood-changed. I recognize the effect. It is not full-moon.'_

 _'But he speaks our tongue!'_

 _'What about the young?'_

 _'What about the Nighfur? It is among them! There must be a reason! Nighfur have not been seen for many many moon-cycles!'_

Hiccup was confused. He bent over and whispered in Akey's ear.

"Can you talk to them?" Akey took a deep breath.

 _'Excuse me, but I come here looking for help for my friend. He's changed into... this. Please, I need to get him back into a human.'_

One of the shadows finally moved forward. It was a thin and lean figure with the same features as Akey, but the creature looked more aged, perhaps in his thirties. He had long black hair in a long braid that hung off of one shoulder. He was clothed in furs. He stared from Akey to Toothless to Hiccup, then glanced at Fishlegs and twitched slightly.

 _'You can understand us, hmm, other? Well, listen to me, please. I am Tar. These are my tribe. My family. Welcome to our home, ones blessed by the great Nighfur. You are welcome here.'_ He spoke, and bowed respectfully to Toothless.

Fishlegs stared from behind the others, in wonderment of the scene unfolding before him. As the only one who didn't understand dragonese, he was clueless, but he was taking the chance to gather information about the creatures on front of him.

Tar continued speaking. _'Little young, what are you called, and who is the wingless other with you?'_ He was staring at Akey, and Hiccup began to put pieces together. Other meant someone who wasn't a part of their tribe. Wingless meant human, perhaps. Young seemed to make sense for younger Were-dragons. Nighfur? Hiccup suspected that since they seemed to refer to Toothless, that Nighfur was their word for Night Fury. It was pretty close, anyway. And since these creatures seemed to look a lot like Night Furies, and that he had turned partway into one, it made some sense. Did these creatures have some understanding of Night Furies?

 _'Uh... I'm Akey.'_ Akey said in response to Tar. _'This is Fishlegs. He's harmless and curious. Don't worry about him.'_

 _'Akey...?'_ One of the other Were-dragons murmured. _'What sort of name is that?'_

Fishlegs moved closer to Hiccup.

"Hey, what are they talking about?" He asked him.

"Mostly introductions. There's some interesting language here. And they really like Toothless."

"Makes sense." Fishlegs said. "Are they going to help us?" Hiccup shrugged in reply. Toothless had been listening to the whole conversation, and he had gone from nervous to slowly more comfortable with these Were-dragons. They seemed to like him. He jolted when he felt a small hand brush him. He turned suddenly to see a small Were-dragon gently brushing the scales on his side. The little one looked completely entranced.

 _'Ki! Stop touching him! Get over here!'_ A voice hissed from the shadows. The boy turned to go, but not without looking longingly at Toothless for a moment.

Hiccup stared around at the figures, who were curious yet guarded about their guests. After the short conversation, they found themselves being guided through the thick forest by the Were-dragons. Tar seemed to be some sort of leader of high respect, or an elder or chief, because the others looked to him for answers. There weren't many smaller ones, but perhaps that made sense.

Hiccup gasped as they moved through a thick bush and found themselves in a huge clearing, guarded by a canopy of thick trees, and sunlight barely peered through the leaves. What he could see was a simple village, where most of the Were-dragons were making themselves busy. A large pile of rabbits, squirrels, and fish lay by a tree stump on one side of the clearing, and there were large huts made of branches and vines intertwined with natural logs and trunks of trees. A bunch of larger, well built Were-dragons were standing together, and one was calling out names. Hiccup couldn't quite catch everything, but he did catch a few names and words as they moved to the far end of the clearing.

 _'Tik, Pike, Kreta, you three will be patrol on the north. Char, Sket, Meri, the south. Tia, lead a patrol to gather moss.'_

Hiccup smiled at the organization. These people knew what they were doing. He looked in a different direction to see some younger Were-dragons play fighting together, one using a stick much like a knife. He heard their loud chatter.

 _'I'm a wingless! I'm going to kill you!'_ One crowed, leaping on another.

 _'Get off! I'm the great fighter Stey! You'll never get in our home, you coward!'_

 _'Will too! And you're not Stey!'_

 _'Am too!'_

 _"Are not!'_

Hiccup chuckled. He looked back at Fishlegs, who was scribbling notes in a blur. Behind him, Toothless looked around him, curious at all the movement around him. Many of the Were-dragons were watching him, awe in their eyes. A few moved closer to get a look. A bunch of the large Were-dragons left on the patrols they seemed to have been assigned. All of the Were-dragons, Hiccup noticed were wearing furs of some kind. All of them had those golden-green eyes.

 _'We are here.'_ Tar addressed them. _'We shall see what our leader will say about you. Stay.'_

Hiccup watched as he disappeared into a huge crack in a huge rock at the far end of the clearing. Fishlegs sat on the grass, and everyone else did as well. Toothless stared at the people staring at him, watching his every movement. More and more of them crowded in, all of them from every corner of the clearing, except for the ones doing jobs. An elderly looking female Were-dragon moved first, reaching out a hand to touch Toothless. The Night Fury immediately backed away slightly. He wasn't used to this.

 _'Nighfur.'_ The woman said. _'I only heard the legends of them...'_ A smile grew on her face, and the others behind her shifted.

'Nigh-what?' A young piped up, staring curiously at the dragon.

 _'Nighfur. The most powerful Winged in the night sky.'_ The woman murmured. _'The one who glows purple and blue.'_ She glanced at Toothless' tail, and up his back. Her eyes narrowed. _'Why is he wearing wingless leather? Why is his tail-fin red?'_

Hiccup tensed, but let Toothless handle it.

 _'It's my saddle. He made it for me.'_ Toothless said proudly, gesturing to Hiccup. _'I was injured, and he let me fly again. If it weren't for him, I would have died grounded.'_ Toothless left out the part of who grounded him, and glanced meaningfully into Hiccup's eyes. _'He is my brother. And anyone who hurts him answers to me.'_

The woman turned to Hiccup, a curious look in her eyes.

 _'You helped the great Nighfur, yes?'_

 _'Uh, yup. That was me.'_ Hiccup said, nodding.

Akey was being surrounded by others his own age. They poked at him, more curious about him than Toothless.

 _'Why are you wearing funny furs?'_ One asked, looking at the bight green torn tunic Akey wore instead of their natural forest colors. _'You won't blend well for hunting that way. How do you eat?'_

 _'Well, I just grabbed what I had too.'_ Akey answered, looking uncomfortable.

Tar reappeared and shooed away the curious crowd.

 _'Please, leave our guests now. Kemat wishes to speak to them.'_ He motioned for Akey and Hiccup to follow him into the cave. _'Come.'_


	9. Chapter 9

It was dark inside the cave, illuminated only by a pair of eyes sitting on the far side. Hiccup couldn't make out who was there, even when his eyes adjusted partway. Akey pressed close to him, apparently nervous. Who was this Kemat? Probably the leader of the Were-dragons. Tar was sitting at the entrance, listening closely. Hiccup was slightly nervous as the eyes blinked slowly. The owner of them moved closer and reached out, and Hiccup stiffened when a hand touched his chin. The slender fingers moved up the side of his head and brushed the Night Fury ears he had gained.

 _'Blood-changed...'_ A voice murmured. _'Unfortunate...'_

"Hello- I mean _, hello, I am-'_ Hiccup was interrupted by the stranger in front of him.

 _'I know who you are. Tar gave me the report. I know why you're here.'_ The voice said. There was a sense of authority, but no hostility. _'You are looking to become wingless again.'_ Hiccup nodded dumbly, not knowing what to say. _'I assume the young here is the reason you are changed, mm?'_

 _'Yes.'_ Akey said quietly. _'It's my fault. Can you undo it?'_

Kemat moved forward, and there was some shuffling. The leader was looking closer at Hiccup. He stared into Hiccup's eyes for a long moment.

 _'I might.'_ The man stated simply. _'We shall see, mm?'_ Hiccup stayed still, despite the fact that he was slightly uncomfortable. He had yet to see the person who might save him. There was a stretched silence as Kemat looked Hiccup over. At last he spoke again. _'Yes, I think there is a way to save this one.'_

"Oh, thank Thor." Hiccup mumbled in Norse. Akey pressed against him.

 _'At a price.'_ Kemat said, sensing the relief.

"What- _what price?'_ Hiccup asked.

Akey tensed, suddenly feeling all his guilt again. Of course there would be a catch.

 _'We would need something that is not easy to get by any stretch of the imagination.'_ Kemat started. _'Some of the venom of the one that changed you, mixed with the crushed scales of a moon-changed Nighli, and-'_

 _'Well, we can get one.'_ Akey said. _'It's in my blood, right?'_

 _'Correct, young one.'_ Tar replied.

 _'But what's a... Nighli?'_ Akey asked, confused.

Tar broke out into a wheezing laughter. _'What's a- what's a Nighli, he asks.'_

Kemat growled. _'It's not funny, Tar. Clearly, this young has grown far away from his tribe. He does not know what he is.'_ Tar went quiet at that.

Kemat turned to Akey. _'We are the Nighli, young one. But we only change to our other forms during the full-moon. You would know this. That is when our instincts come out.'_

Akey winced. _'Yeah, those. I know about them. I nearly killed Hiccup last full-moon. I can't control them.'_

 _'You are young. It will not always be this way, young one. As we grow, the fierceness of the change goes away, and we grow used to our full-moon forms. The instinct to kill is not as strong.'_

 _'So you can control yourselves during the full-moon?'_ Akey asked, amazed.

 _'Our changing is a natural part of life. It is a sign of our blood, and where we come from. It is not meant to hurt us. It is just very strong when we are younger.'_ Tar answered.

 _'Are you... like um...'_ Hiccup tried to get his dragonese together. _'...Like Fangless- I mean... Nighfur...?'_

 _'We share a connection with the great Nighfur.'_ Kemat answered. _'Parts of us are similar, like a lake is similar to a river. Both of us have similarities that run deep. However, we are not the same.'_

 _'I figured.'_ Hiccup answered.

 _'So why is it hard to get the scales, then?'_ Akey asked. _'Just ask someone to give you a few, and boom. There you go.'_

 _'It is not that simple.'_ Kemat said. _'Although, the scales may be the easiest of the three ingredients to cure your friend, we have something we do every full-moon that cannot be interrupted. Newer ones get taken out for a flight, and the older ones must spend their time curing the young's hard and powerful instincts. It is something that must be done, all of us participate. We'd need to find another who could give you their scales.'_

 _'Why not you?'_ Akey asked. Tar tensed at that.

Kemat sighed deeply. _'Not I, young one. As much as I want to aid your friend, I cannot.'_

 _'Why not?'_ Akey asked, confused. _'You have scales too, right?'_

 _'Not anymore.'_ Kemat sniffed. _'I do not change.'_ He said it sadly and wistfully.

 _'Why?'_ Akey replied.

 _'At a certain age, we lose our changing.'_ Kemat said stiffly.

Akey sensed that he shouldn't press anymore. He nodded respectfully. Kemat shifted in the darkness again.

 _'Tar, begin getting the young one's venom. Next full-moon, we will get the scales.'_

 _'Wait, but... we need the scales before then!'_ Akey said. _'Hiccup probably only has less than a moon to live!'_

 _'A shame._ ' Tar said after a moment. _'But none of us will moon-change before then.'_

A feeling of dread slipped into Hiccup. Akey whimpered softly and pressed to his friend.

 _'Don't you have some scales lying around or something? Or do they need to be fresh?'_ Akey asked, desperation creeping into his voice.

 _'Not necessarily, but after we have those two ingredients, we still one more. And that requires a new-moon. It'll be a while before that. And no, we reuse any scales we happen to shed during full-moon. We have none.'_ Kemat stated.

 _'Oh, great.'_ Akey mumbled.

 _'We will just have to do as much as we can until the next full-moon, and then hope your friend lasts long enough that we can save him.'_

 _'But he'll be dead before the next full-moon.'_ Akey said miserably.

 _'Then there's nothing we can do.'_

* * *

Hiccup relayed the information to Fishlegs, and told him to go tell the others who were still standing by. Fishlegs nodded and moved back the way he came, until Meatlug saw him and he got on her and joined the others.

"Well?" Astrid insisted.

"They have a way to make a cure, but there's a specific way to make it and they won't get it in time." Fishlegs said. "Hiccup says he and Toothless are going to spend his last time here, he wants to learn about their culture. Akey is obviously going to move in with them. Hiccup ordered us to go back to the Edge, tell his father what's going to happen, not to go find him, and not tell Stoick where they are."

Astrid stared ahead for a while. Her fists were balled up, and she pressed against Stormfly, who gently nudged her with a soft squawk. How could Hiccup do this to her? He was planning on disappearing with a bunch of dragon people for the last moon of his life instead of being with her? Why? She couldn't understand. But he had given her some orders. Important ones.

"C'mon, let's go tell the chief." She said curtly, climbing up on her dragon.

* * *

Tar motioned to the first large hut. It was right next to the entrance to the clearing, and looked pretty cozy.

 _'This is where our strongest ones, our warriors, our fighters rest. They fight to defend us from everything from hostile wingless, to dragon threats, to mountain lions and forest fires. They hunt for food to feed us as well.'_ He turned and began to move to the next hut. Hiccup and Akey followed, with Toothless close behind. He was absolutely refusing to leave Hiccup for even a second, even though the tour wasn't going to be anywhere outside the camp.

 _'This is the young's den.'_ Tar waved at a smaller hut, weaved with some thorns among the leaves and vines. _'They are training to become warriors, but haven't mastered their instincts yet.'_ He moved past a couple of tussling youngsters who didn't stop even when Toothless stopped for a moment to watch them. They tumbled around on the ground in a tangle, growling. Hiccup watched them, amused. Toothless snorted.

 _'Youngsters.'_ the Night Fury scooted aside as they tumbled past him.

Tar nodded, then moved along to the next hut. It was next to Kemat's den, and it was tightly weaved with thorns and thistles. Whatever was in there was worth a lot of extra protection. Hiccup peered inside, but it was too dim inside without adjusting his eyes.

 _'This is the nursery.'_ Tar stated. _'This is where all our females raise the hatchlings until they're old enough to train. The ones that are expecting also stay in here.'_ Akey looked slightly more alert at this point. Ever since Kemat had said there was nothing they could do for Hiccup, he had been in an unresponsive and somewhat depressed state, but at Tar's words he perked up and stared curiously.

 _'Do you lay eggs?'_ He asked. _'Because you call them hatchlings, so I would assume...'_

 _'Well, the females do, yes.'_ Tar nodded. He smiled slightly, and ducked partway into the den. _'Hello, is it okay if these ones come inside for a moment and see the little ones? They mean no harm.'_ After a moment, he popped his head back out. _'Akey, Hiccup, you two can go in and look, but be careful, a mother's instinct is strong. Don't get them mad.'_ Hiccup nodded.

"You want to go first, Akey?" He nudged the boy slightly. Akey hesitated, and then nodded, crawling through the narrow opening and inside the dim hut. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw three females inside, nested among moss and feathers and other soft things. It was warm and comforting inside. He approached slowly and hesitantly, trying not to upset the mothers. They were watching him, and they were wary, but they also had a warmth in their eyes. One spoke.

 _'Hello, little young, it is alright. You want to see the hatchlings, yes?'_ She said kindly, giving Akey a warm smile. _'I am Feari, this is Easa, and over there is Teani.'_

Akey smiled, and tried to remember the names he had just heard. _'I'm Akey. Is it alright if I...'_

Feari nodded. She glanced down in the nest she was lying in and Akey followed her gaze, moving forward so he could see. Curled up inside were three tiny little hatchlings, and to Akey's surprise, they had their dragon features, wings, tails. They were asleep, their chests rising and falling. He felt a rush of happiness. He had been like this once. But where had he come from? And how had he been separated from the rest of the Nighli?

 _'Is it okay if I touch one?'_ Akey whispered. Feari tensed slightly, but then nodded.

 _'Be gentle.'_ She warned.

Akey nodded, and moved a hand ever so slowly down toward the hatchling.

 _'Why do they have wings and tails?'_ He asked quietly as he reached down and put a slightly trembling finger on the closest one's tiny tail. Its head could easily have fit in his hand.

 _'That's the way they are born.'_ Feari murmured. Akey nodded and gently pulled his hand away. One of the hatchlings lifted its head and gave a squeak, fumbling blindly to its paws. It woke the other two, which caused them all to begin crawling around and tripping over each other. Akey smiled as one stumbled out of the nest at his feet. It opened a clouded green eye and stared up at him, squinting. He realized that the hatchling was opening its eyes for what must have been the first time. The precious little thing opened the other eye and stared up at Akey for a long time, blinking.

 _'Hello.'_ Akey said softly.

 _'He-lli?'_ The hatchling parroted back. Akey smiled broadly. He gently nudged the hatchling back into the nest, where it turned and saw its mother. It squeaked happily and moved toward her. Akey turned away from Feari to Easa and Teani.

 _'Hi.'_ He waved nervously. Neither of the females had said anything to him yet. Teani smiled and waved back.

 _'Hello! I heard about you from the elders. They say you have a Nighfur with you, but gosh, I never even thought they were more than old tales for hatchlings. You must have been so brave, growing up without your tribe! Poor little one, I'd have taken care of you if it were up to me! I'd raise you with my own!_ ' Teani said excitedly. _'Of course, they aren't out yet, and you're way older then them and it's my first time, so I have no experience, but you can bet I'd be the best mother I could to you-'_

Teani yelped when Easa gave her a light cuff on the head.

 _'C'mon, you're rattling off again.'_ Easa turned to Akey. _'She tends to run on, don't she?'_ Akey smiled nervously and giggled slightly. _'She's new to this whole mothering business, you'll have to excuse her. Nothing ever wears her out. She's an endless fountain of words.'_ Easa chuckled softly. _'Always has something to say.'_

 _'I'm right here, Easa, and that hurt! And sure, I talk, but not that much, don't exaggerate!'_ Teani said, sitting up. Akey saw that her belly was stretched out with babies she was carrying. He couldn't help but stare at the sight, amazed. Teani noticed and smiled. _'Hey, it's okay, it doesn't hurt so much. Only when I stand up, and I don't do that as much since it won't be long until they're born and y'know, I can't wait to see them, they'll be beautiful! I know I'll have to wait another few moons for them to hatch, but it'll be worth it!'_

Akey nodded. _'I'm sure it will.'_ He turned back to Easa. _'So, what about you?'_

 _'Come and see, then.'_ Easa replied. Akey nodded and scooted closer. In Easa's nest was one black egg. It had some fur wrapped around it to keep it warm. _'I know it isn't much, but I'm not as young as I used to be.'_ Easa smiled at the egg and rubbed it with a hand. _'It'll be my last one.'_

Akey nodded slowly. _'I-I see. Well, I think it's beautiful.'_ Easa smiled proudly.

 _'Thank you, little one. But enough about us, what about you?'_ Easa asked. Akey cocked his head to one side.

 _'What do you mean?'_

Teani grinned. _'Where do you come from? We've never heard of a Nighli growing up so far from home!'_

Feari nodded slowly. _'Your parents could have been wanderers, or your egg stolen in the night. But we want to know how you survived.'_

Akey shuffled uncomfortably and tried to relax under their gazes.

 _'I... I just did what I had to, I guess. It wasn't easy.'_ He mumbled. _'I had a lot of near deaths and stuff, but...'_ He looked back into his past. The first thing he could remember was what he remembered as a banishment. The first people to look after him just blurry memories and shadowy faces. Perhaps he was a pet, he couldn't remember. He hadn't known if he had done something wrong, or what it was, but he had suddenly been abandoned.

He remembered staring out of a dark alleyway into a busy street, huge hulking hairy Vikings wandering around, laughing in large crowds, smelling of sour things and cooked meat, fire and blood. He had wandered into the street. Where were his parents? Did anyone know he was even there? He had stumbled into people and been tripped on and suddenly he was kicked into a corner, and he scrambled to a hiding place.

He had stared out, scared, trembling, whimpering, as the sun set and it started raining. He had huddled, hungry and alone in a tipped over and empty mead barrel. He had fought cats for their food, huddled in pain during full-moons, trying to ignore those powerful instincts to roam and kill and burn. He had stolen apples, and fish, and cheese just so he could survive another day. He had dodged thrown objects, knives, had tried to understand why people hated him and insulted him and called him a monster and a freak.

He had stared into a puddle after rainfall, staring at his reflection, at the horrible creature that stared back. He had snarled at himself, hating himself, wishing he was normal. He had cried himself to sleep on many nights, rubbing his wounds and scratches.

He remembered finding someone who had cared. A kind girl, a baker's daughter who had kept him in her back alleyway and gave him scraps of food and let him sneak into the back storage room to sleep in a warm place. She had treated him like a stray dog, because she had no reason to think he was any smarter than one, but he didn't care. He let himself enjoy the warm bread and the meat scraps given to him. He remembered the pain of being thrown out by her father, fear and horror in the man's voice as he swore at him and told his daughter never to go near that- that- monster.

He remembered witnessing the horror of seeing someone blood-changed by him. Watching the person who had liked him once, had given him kindness, suddenly changed, yelling at him, what did you do to me I trusted you! Watching them go mad with anger and grief and then-

He remembered telling himself that he'd never get close to anyone.

He roamed from island to island, sneaking on boats, flying during the full-moon, once he learned how.

He was nearly killed from time to time.

A few kind dragons would let him stay with them every once in a while, but he had to leave before he hurt them.

He hurt more people than he had wanted. He hated himself, every fiber of his being, for what he was and what he had done. He couldn't understand why this was him, why this was happening.

He hadn't realized that he had been crying that whole time, but once the memories faded and he found himself back with the three mothers, he found himself shaking and crying, and tried to stop. He hadn't delved that deep into his horrible memories in a long time. He tried to shrink smaller, wishing he would sink into the ground or disappear. Easa, Teani, and Feari were watching him with deep sorrow and love and pity mingled with confusion and he didn't want any of it. He didn't deserve it. He turned and blundered blindly toward the entrance and ran into someone within a few paces.

"Akey?" Akey tried to get past whoever he had bumped into and felt something stopping him. He tried to fight it, and memories, taunting and gripping, came back into his mind with a vengeance. They wanted him to suffer.

 _"You little freak!"_

 _"Monster!"_

 _"Get out of here!"_

 _"Don't touch me, creature!"_

 _"What is it? Some sort of cursed thing?"_

 _"Hey, bring that back, thief!"_

 _"Kill it! Oh Thor, KILL IT!"_

 _"Help! Someone help!"_

He fought and wriggled and tried desperately to get free, but something was gripping him tightly. The shadows pressed tighter and tighter on his mind, and he felt close to passing out, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't move!

 _WHY?_

 _WHY ME?_

 _PLEASE!_

 _MAKE IT STOP!_

He gave up, collapsing to whatever fate was next. He found himself being hugged gently, a pair of big paws holding him close to a chest, his sobs being absorbed by a loving presence. He must have stayed that way for hours, letting the hug calm him down. He opened his eyes and turned to whoever was there. Green dragon eyes met his. Auburn hair draped over a sharp face, a square jaw, thick eyebrows. A kind smile. A slight scar on the chin. Bunches of freckles. Black ears. Hiccup. Relief flooded him so much he collapsed into the arms again.

 _'Sorry.'_ He mumbled. _'I must have looked stupid. I completely lost it, I'm so sorry.'_

"Don't apologize." Hiccup said kindly, his breath stirring Akey's black messy hair. "It's alright now. Just rest."

Akey glanced around. He was surprised to see that they weren't outside the nursery. They were in another hut, and a dim orange light was filtering through the leaves and branches. Toothless was curled outside, his head peeking inside. His eyes were on Akey, an understanding in them. Toothless had some idea of what had caused Akey's breakdown. The Night Fury found himself concerned for the boy and all the feelings of resentment he had for Akey were gone. He gave Akey a small nod and let his head sink down onto the ground. Akey caught it and sighed slightly. He looked back up at Hiccup, who was watching him with a patience.

 _'So... how long has it been?'_ He mumbled.

"A few hours." Hiccup answered. "You gotta be hungry. Want me to go get you something?"

Akey shook his head and pressed closer to Hiccup. The last thing he wanted was for the teen to leave. He felt a selfish sense of need for Hiccup to be there. He felt a sense of peace, curled up next to Hiccup's chest. Hiccup smiled in understanding and wrapped a wing around Akey.

It could wait.


End file.
